All posts by n8rngtd.top

Many Everton fans have been left to speculate on the future of Alex Iwobi as Carlo Ancelotti commented on his recent controversial Instagram post.

The former Arsenal man posted a subtle dig at the Italian boss on one of his latest stories: “Always an honour to get a call up for my national team, hopefully I get to play in my preferred position”.

Ancelotti was asked about this post in his pre-game press conference ahead of their home game against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday evening, to which he said (via The Toffee Blues): “I read the post that he did. I would like to know his preferred position because usually I want to put players on the pitch where they are comfortable to play. If he has an idea of where he prefers to play, I have to know. I want to know.”

The Nigeria international suggested that Ancelotti is not playing him where he wants to play, and several members of the Goodison Park faithful took his response as having a dark undertone to it.

As such, some speculation arose on Twitter over whether this means the end for Iwobi at the Merseyside club under Ancelotti, given the subtle dig and the manager’s reply.

Everton fan reaction to Ancelotti comments

These Toffees supporters speculated on Twitter after reading the comments that were made by Ancelotti:

“Well, Alex? You may have just put the last nail in your own coffin. Well done, sir.”

Credit: @joshwilbert1

“Taxi for Iwobi”

Credit: @Stevewalmo1

“If a manager of Ancelotti’s standing doesn’t know your best position then you’re in trouble…”

Credit: @SK21878

“There’s something to this.”

Credit: @Wayno____

“Time to start packing your baked beans, and head to the bus stop.”

Credit: @blackfoot231

“Well he’s off in the summer then isn’t he”

Credit: @shaunbrennan82

In other news, find out what injury update relayed by Paul Joyce has left EFC fans fuming here!

Southampton have been dealt a huge blow ahead of their game against Leicester City on Saturday, as Danny Ings has been ruled out after testing positive for the current viral outbreak.

Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed in his pre-match conference on Thursday that the England international would be forced to sit out the game against the Foxes after a positive test, as he will now have to self-isolate due to the government’s guidelines.

This comes as a big blow for the Austrian as he saw his side fail to score in three games over the Christmas period that Ings missed through injury before the former Liverpool man returned to score the winner against his old side in the Saints’ last Premier League fixture.

It is an important game against Brendan Rodgers’ side on Saturday evening, with both sides having enjoyed an impressive start to the season which sees them challenging for a top-four spot, so to have your top scorer missing is obviously a huge blow for the South Coast club.

So far this season, the 28-year-old has managed seven goals and three assists in just 13 top-flight appearances for Southampton, averaging a superb 7.17 rating.

The Englishman is picking up where he left off last season, where he finished as the second joint-top scorer in the Premier League, despite a disjointed season so far where injuries, and now the current viral outbreak, have ruled him out of matches.

Last season, Eddie Howe was full of praise for the striker, saying:

“The most impressive thing about Danny is, of course, he’s an outstanding player.”

“Technically he’s very good, plays with real intelligence and the way he’s come back from his disappointments, the injury setbacks he’s had, the way he’s fought back and kept his mental strength has been hugely impressive.”

Hasenhuttl will surely be frustrated to have his top goalscorer missing for the game against Leicester and he now faces a dilemma on who to select up front alongside Che Adams, who should return after missing the game against Liverpool with a concussion.

And, in other news… Southampton signing England U21 gem would cast doubt over the future of Hasenhuttl favourite

Speaking to Sky Sports, as shared by Football Daily and West Ham Central, journalist Kaveh Solhekol dropped a candid message for West Ham United and their supporters – going on to say that the Hammers don’t get ‘the respect they deserve’ considering what they have achieved so far this season.

Solhekol, speaking on The Transfer Show, opened up over how brilliantly the Hammers have performed under Moyes this season – going on to drop a message that West Ham United deserve more respect when it comes to media coverage in general.

West Ham are currently in the mix for a top-four finish and Solhekol thinks that they deserve more recognition.

Solhekol drops West Ham message

“I can’t believe we’re going to talk about Arsenal before talking about West Ham,” explained the journalist (via Twitter).

“Before we get to talk about West Ham, we’re talking about fringe players at Arsenal who may be swapping one loan move for another.

“On this programme, we just don’t give West Ham the respect they deserve.”

Flocking to this candid message from the journalist, as shared by West Ham Central and West Ham Transfers, these supporters loved the comment with some feeling that the Irons have now been justifiably recognised. Find all of their best verdicts down below.

Hammers go wild

“Finally!! What a man he’s highlighted a big issue at sky sports”

Credit: @I96griffiths

“WOW”

Credit: @battey12

“You got to love this.”

Credit: @just_wasik

“Wow!! How about that? Who would have thought it!!”

Credit: @diltondiltond1

“Massive respect”

Credit: @Redjacket98

“Thank youuuuuuu”

Credit: @DBarnard1989

“My respect for Karveh has gone through the roof. What a man. Irons.”

Credit: @AlexLou47257315

“West Ham are massive”

Credit: @Lloydie_A

In other news: West Ham fans praised this ace for his performance against Crystal Palace, find out more here.

When Raul Jimenez suffered a horrendous fractured skull against Arsenal back in November, there were big fears for Wolves given his impressive contributions up top – he’s scored 47 goals in just 110 games for the club.

And since Jimenez went down, the Old Gold have won just four of their last 14 matches. It’s been a torrid period for Nuno Santo who has watched his side capitulate in recent months.

They have kept a solitary clean sheet in the Premier League since October, but their win over Arsenal on this occasion will have done them wonders.

The confidence was back in full swing and it was hardly a surprise that with a robust striker in Willian Jose to aim for in attack, they improved. Though, despite goals from Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, it was Pedro Neto who put the Gunners to the sword.

Neto is having a tremendous season and despite Wolves’ struggles, he has taken on the mantle as their chief creator with ease. With Jimenez out, the Portugal international is very quickly becoming their diamond in the rough.

His performances have continued with the same vigour in recent months and his tally of four goals and four assists are bettered by no one in the Wolves squad this season.

The 20-year-old has been quite the force this term and he demonstrated that against Arsenal. Neto gave Hector Bellerin a torrid time and when the Gunners went down to ten and then nine men, he exploited the open spaces ruthlessly.

Neto provided two key passes during the game and such was the space he received on the left that he attempted eight crosses. That was the highest number of balls into the area of anyone on the pitch.

On top of that, the youngster terrorised Bellerin by completing a massive five dribbles. That tally was significantly up on his season average of 2.2 dribbles per game.

He has been a threatening ball of energy for the entire season and ranks among one of the most intense runners in the Premier League – sitting high up on the list of players with the most sprints per 90 minutes.

If anything typified Neto, it would be a piece of descriptive tweeting from Tim Spiers on Tuesday evening. As the winger drove past two Arsenal players in the second half, he said: “Neto twists into the box like a champion slalom skier.”

It was the perfect way to express Neto’s qualities. He is a radiant attacking weapon capable of upsetting even the sternest of defences.

Arsenal had conceded just once in the Premier League since Boxing Day but they found life difficult against the Portuguese this week.

It’s a testament to how much he’s improved and to his overall qualities. He has fast become Nuno’s star man at Molineux.

AND in other news, Drop him: Wolves liability who lost 66% of his duels continues to let Nuno down…

Former referee Mark Halsey has talked about whether Wilfried Zaha should have been sent off in Aston Villa’s recent Premier League win at Villa Park.

Dean Smith’s Villa picked up a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday despite being down to ten men. Tyrone Mings was sent off after picking up two yellow cards, but the first yellow came as a result of a flashpoint involving Zaha and the defender. Zaha also got a yellow card for the incident (as per BBC Sport).

Smith described both bookings as soft yellow cards but Halsey has talked about whether Zaha himself should’ve been sent off for what happened during the flashpoint where he appeared to throw a hand at the Villa defender.

Halsey on whether Zaha deserved a red against Aston Villa

Halsey was exclusively talking to The Transfer Tavern recently and he discussed whether the Palace winger should’ve been sent off for throwing a hand at Mings. The former referee believes that VAR must have had a look at the incident and deemed it not to be worthy of a red card. Halsey himself feels that yellow cards for both Zaha and Mings were appropriate outcomes.

He said:

“I mean, you could argue the case (of a red card) but then, you have to say ‘well, why didn’t VAR pick that up and recommend a review?’ So VAR must have been happy that it wasn’t a serious and obvious error made by the referee on that occasion. To be fair, I thought two yellow cards was the right outcome in that situation.”

Villa were 1-0 up when Mings was sent off but despite the disadvantage, Smith’s men scored through Anwar El Ghazi and Kortney Hause in the second half.

Villa showed grit despite the disadvantage

It is anyone’s guess if Zaha’s sending off would’ve made any difference in the result considering the fact that Villa won 3-0 even while having ten men on the pitch. More than that, Smith’s men completely outperformed Palace on xG as well, generating a tally of as much as 3.5 while Palace’s tally stood at a lowly 1.06 despite the man advantage (as per FBRef).

Zaha had picked up a rating of only 6.32 in the game and while that was the fourth-highest rating for the Eagles, it was a disappointing rating in a general perspective (as per Whoscored).

So the winger clearly didn’t make much of a difference and a potential sending off for him may not have been too impactful for Villa.

In other news, Aston Villa have been buzzing about Matty Cash’s latest tweet – read more about it here.

Former Aberdeen striker Noel Whelan has criticised Celtic captain Scott Brown after his side’s recent defensive record in all competitions, with him being dropped against Lille on Thursday.

Whelan not impressed with Brown

The 35-year-old is leading a Bhoys’ side that is not performing up to the expectations of the supporters during the current campaign, who have been hugely unhappy with manager Neil Lennon as they sat 13 points behind arch-rivals Rangers before the weekend’s action.

From 25 appearances this season, Brown has scored just once in all competitions and has picked up five yellow cards, which is more than any other players in the team (Whoscored).

But the Scot was dropped to the bench for his side’s 3-2 victory against Lille in their final Europa League game, despite having been knocked out of the competition already.

Whelan was asked by Football Insider whether he was doing enough in the midfield for the Hoops this season.

“He’s in there to win battles, in there to command the midfield area, to get people going forward as a team but also to make yourself nice and strong and secure as a unit,” he said.

“It scares me they’re getting through too easily, you can’t say you’re doing your job right if you’re conceding goals, it’s as simple as that.

“Players will be disappointed themselves, I’m very critical but you’ve got to be critical of yourself as well – could you do better, can I do better, am I at top of my game?

“No is the answer to all of that backline and the midfield in front as well, they’re not doing a good enough job protecting them – defensively, as a unit, they’ve got a hell of a lot of work on.

Whelan continued. “If there’s no fight in them, they’re going to struggle, massively. That’s what they need, pride in their own performances, fight not to let this happen again, fight between one another to dig out the best in one another.

“If you don’t have that kind of leadership in there, and that kind of weak mentality and weak players, then you’re going to be struggling massively, it could get a lot worse.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

Celtic are facing an uphill and need their key players to perform, especially the leadership qualities that we’ve seen from Brown over the years.

But the man who takes home £23k-a-week from Parkhead has not been performing, and Whelan is right. Brown must continue to lead from the front.

It appears that Rangers have got stronger while Celtic have got too comfortable, which has resulted in where the Bhoys find themselves.

In other news, talkSPORT pundit explains how there is still light at the end of the tunnel for Neil Lennon.

A number of Manchester City fans have been reacting to the latest report that Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was ‘quite certain’ that he would move to the Etihad Stadium this summer.

City had been consistently linked with a potential move for Koulibaly throughout the summer transfer window, but Pep Guardiola’s side were unable to meet Napoli’s asking price for the 29-year-old, so the centre-back ended up remaining with the Italian club, as per Sky Sports.

City had already brought in Nathan Ake in a £40 million deal from Bournemouth, and they opted to move for Benfica’s Ruben Dias instead of Koulibaly, signing the 23-year-old in a deal worth around £65 million, with Nicolas Otamendi moving in the opposite direction.

However, according to the latest report from Corriere dello Sport, via Sport Witness, Koulibaly was confident of making a move to City during the transfer window. That was before Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis set an €80 million (£72.2 million) price tag, which seemingly put City off the move.

Some City fans have been saying that the blame for the transfer failing to get over the line should be directed at De Laurentiis, while others pointed out that Dias was a better option anyway due to the difference in age between the pair.

City fans react to emerging reports over Koulibaly

City fans, would Koulibaly have been a better signing than Dias? Let us know your thoughts below!

Carlo Ancelotti is putting Jonjoe Kenny’s Everton future in doubt with a rumoured pursuit of Middlesbrough’s in-demand defender Djed Spence.

What’s the word?

According to TEAMtalk, Boro are facing an increasing battle to retain Spence’s services beyond the January market, with the attacking right-back’s form under Neil Warnock said to have impressed an array of Premier League sides.

Warnock has called on the former Fulham trainee – who departed Craven Cottage for the Riverside in 2018 – to start six of his nine Championship appearances this season, in which the 20-year-old has struck one goal and provided an average 0.4 accurate crosses a game.

Former Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate awarded the London-born defender his first-team breakthrough mid-way through last season, making his second-tier debut in a 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic and ending the campaign as the North East outfit’s prefered option.

Spence’s progress since Warnock’s appointment earlier in the year has seen Everton, along with Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers begin carrying out regular checks on his development ahead of a potential England Under 21s call-up.

Warnock is often full of praise for the £1.8m-rated talent, claiming in July that he considers Spence to be of the same type as Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

“If you look at one or two of the full-backs that are around now – the lad at Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the lad at Manchester United from Palace – they are all the same type as Djed,” he said, via quotes by The Northern Echo.

“He does have enormous ability, and when you’ve got ability like that it’s criminal if you don’t get to the very top. But as I said to him in that first couple of weeks, he’ll only have himself to blame if he doesn’t get to the very top.

“He has quite a few things to brush up on at the minute, and I’m sure he will try. He’s a very good trainer and works hard.”

With Spence’s stock increasingly on the rise and Middlesbrough seemingly becoming progressively more accepting of a January transfer, it remains to be seen if Everton step in to win the emerging race.

Kenny’s future in doubt

Any move by Everton to sign Spence could come at the expense of Toffees product Kenny, who made his Premier League season debut against Newcastle on Sunday in place of the injured Seamus Coleman.

Ancelotti has previously stated that he has a lot of confidence in the former England U21 international, but moving for Spence would go against those claims as the 23-year-old would find himself with greater competition for the role of eventually succeeding Coleman.

Kenny, 23, has long been seen as the one to take over the right-back spot at Goodison Park once the Blues captain hangs up his boots, with Sam Allardyce noting in 2017 that the Liverpool-born ace belongs in the Premier League.

“He’s been a huge bonus for filling in that position,” said Allardyce, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo. “He proved that before I came, and he’s proven that to me in my short time because he doesn’t look out of place.”

Spence, meanwhile, has shown his attacking nature in the Championship this season with a heavy number of his 36.2 touches per game coming in the opponent’s half, where he plays 9.2 of his 12.1 accurate passes, while winning 3.4 total duels, recording 1.1 tackles and offering 0.4 key balls plus 0.3 shots, per SofaScore.

Kenny managed to register 61 touches against Newcastle before being replaced in the 76th-minute, but could only deliver one accurate cross from six attempts, lost possession 13 times, made two tackles and one clearance while recording most of his time in Toon territory.

AND in other news, Marcel Brands can build Everton’s dream unit with a gem who Carlo Ancelotti calls “one of the best”.

According to a report from La Stampa, via TUTTOmercatoWEB, Tottenham are readying a new and improved offer to sign Torino captain and talismanic striker Andrea Belotti this summer after having their first loan-to-buy bid rejected – with Spurs clearly not done following huge Sergio Reguilon and Gareth Bale developments. 

Belotti, who bagged 16 Serie A goals last season and 22 in all competitions for the Italian club (Transfermarkt), will reportedly cost Spurs a huge fee if they’re to try and get a deal done – especially after their initial loan offer for the season with a £46.2 million option-to-buy next year was rejected.

Now, as per this update, Spurs will come back in for the Italy international with a new and improved offer exceeding their original – with the club still hunting for a prolific attacker who can provide an alternative option to Harry Kane.

Over the last day, deals for both Sergio Reguilon and Spurs icon Gareth Bale have accelerated with football.london correspondent Alasdair Gold claiming Daniel Levy will not be done there.

The Lilywhites still need to bring in a forward despite all the excitement surrounding Reguilon and Bale in particular, and Gold also claims that a centre-back remains on the agenda. 

As this report claims, if Levy and co want to land Belotti, they will need to push the boat out and make an improvement on their initial loan-to-buy offer – and the Italian news outlet claims that is exactly what Tottenham intend to do. 

Whether or not Spurs are eventually able to land the 26-year-old remains to be seen, but this could be an exciting end to the window for supporters.

Should Spurs sign Andrea Belotti for over £46.2 million? Have your say in the comments below…

Harry Kane and Heung-min Son will understandably take the plaudits after Tottenham Hotspur’s emphatic 5-2 victory over Southampton.

The former got four assists and a goal, while the latter scored four times throughout the match, which says enough about just how impressive their respective performances were.

However, Jose Mourinho, and Spurs fans, can also be pleased with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s display in midfield, as he came up against his former club.

Is it Mido or Pedro Mendes? This Spurs quiz will separate the loyal from the fake…

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

He was hit with a tough challenge from Oriol Romeu fairly early on, but this did not deter the Denmark international from putting in a solid performance.

The 25-year-old won four of the six aerial duels that he competed in, as well as winning one tackle, completing one interception and one clearance.

In addition to his defensive and combative involvements, Hojbjerg showed quality with the ball at his feet, completing 83% of the passes that he attempted, as well as completing both of his dribbles.

He was also able to see plenty of the ball, holding 6% of the game’s overall possession, a number that was only exceeded by Harry Winks among his fellow Spurs players.

Having seen his side collectively struggle during the first half, after losing against Everton, Mourinho will be feeling particularly pleased with the eventual scoreline.

The way that they went about securing the one-sided result will make this feel even better for the Portuguese tactician.

He can also add the fact that one of his summer signings put in a highly impressive performance to his positives from the day.