All posts by n8rngtd.top

A number of Liverpool fans have been reacting to an apparent leaked photo of the Reds’ 2021/22 kit, with many not keen on it.

When it comes to kits, football supporters can often find themselves fascinated by them.

The sight of your team wearing a brand-new strip often brings fresh hope and optimism, as we dream of our heroes lifting silverware in their new attire.

Liverpool have had some glorious outfits down the years, from the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s right the way through to the present period.

[freshpress-quiz id=“313155″]

The Reds are coming towards the end of their first season in a Nike kit, having switched from New Balance last summer, with their new manufacturer not exactly bringing a huge amount of luck in 2020/21.

A photo shared by LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) on Twitter seemingly shows what Liverpool’s strip next season will look like, with both the home and away jerseys on show.

Liverpool fans react to leaked kit

It’s fair to say that the image hasn’t been met with resounding positivity, with these Reds supporters taking to Twitter to provide their honest thoughts on it.

“Dreadful”

Credit: @praneeth1012

“How are people who are paid legal tender by Nike worse at designing kits than people on Twitter who do it as a hobby?”

Credit: @NotoriousJOS

“That’s a hard pass for me this year. Didn’t even get to wear this season’s kit to the pub that much, so will stick with it.”

Credit: @BartGlilly

“OK let’s go back to NB”

Credit: @GharteyTimothy

“Terrible, hate Nike’s designs”

Credit: @ceklfc

“They’re boring. The stripes add no value. Would actually rather plain red and plain white”

Credit: @michaelbargache

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been reacting positively to a fresh Reds transfer link. Read about it here.

Celtic would be taking a huge ‘gamble’ if they appoint Enzo Maresca as their new manager, according to Kevin Phillips.

The Hoops are weighing up the candidates for Neil Lennon’s permanent replacement after the Northern Irishman resigned in February.

Maresca has been one name mentioned as a potential successor, with Italian journalist Nicolo Schira even claiming he was Celtic’s ‘first target’ for the job.

Phillips explains why Maresca may not fit the bill

However, Phillips – the English Premier League’s Golden Boot winner in 1999/2000 – has issued a warning.

He pointed out that there is a requirement for immediate success at Parkhead and that swiftly dethroning Rangers may be too big an ask for Maresca, currently in charge of Manchester City’s under-23s.

“It would be a risk because Celtic need to be challenging next year at the very minimum. They really need to win the league,” Phillips told Football Insider.

“To take a young manager, who has no experience of Scottish football or managing a first team is a big ask.

“Rangers are flying so I think Maresca would be a big risk. If it was a long-term rebuild and they hadn’t won the title in years then maybe. It would be like when Rangers appointed Gerrard.

“But next season Celtic need to be challenging for the league at the very least. Maresca would be a gamble.”

Enzo Maresca’s credentials

As Phillips mentioned, Maresca has not taken charge of a team at senior level before, but he has been an assistant coach at Sevilla and West Ham (Transfermarkt). He worked under Premier League-winning manager Manuel Pellegrini at the London Stadium during the 2018/19 season.

The 41-year-old Italian is doing an excellent job with Man City’s youth side. They are two points clear at the top of Premier League 2 with a game in hand and their goal difference of +30 dwarfs that of the teams below them.

The big question, of course, is whether he can make the step-up to senior football management.

Transfer Tavern verdict

As much as Rangers’ celebrations are a galling sight for Celtic fans after watching their side win nine consecutive titles, perhaps they could actually afford to exercise some patience.

The Gers will take some catching regardless – they’re 20 points ahead with six games remaining and they haven’t lost a league game all season.

Perhaps the Hoops should be willing to accept a little more short-term pain for long-term gain. After all, their Glasgow rivals have bought into a project with a previously unproven coach in the form of Steven Gerrard, and the signs are very promising for him. Maybe Celtic could have similar success if they take a punt on Maresca.

In other news, this former Celtic player is reportedly interested in the job.

Some Sunderland fans were left to blast the display of Callum McFadzean despite their 2-0 away win at Portsmouth in the EFL League One on Tuesday night.

Lee Johnson’s men raced into an early lead through Charlie Wyke before doubling their lead a few minutes into the second half as Jordan Jones ensured that all three points were going to the Stadium of Light faithful.

However, while there were some very good performances by the Black Cats, McFadzean’s flattered to deceive some SAFC supporters.

The former Sheffield United man lost out on seven of his duels in the game, and also failed to record a single successful dribble, interception, key pass or cross from the left-back position (Sofascore).

He also lost possession of the ball no fewer than 24 times in the match, the most out of any of his teammates to have set foot on the pitch (Sofascore).

Sunderland fan reaction to McFadzean display

These Sunderland fans blasted his performance on Twitter, with one fan even going as far to claim that the 27-year-old is ‘useless’:

“I’d love to know what LJ thinks of Vokins, because McFadzean is literally scared of the ball… (and useless) #safc”

Credit: @lambo_82

“God help us if McFadzean is in the 11 at Wembley… #SAFC”

Credit: @RokerPark150705

“Someone teach McFadzean to complete a 5 yard pass please #safc”

Credit: @brettd1981

“McFadzean is definitely up with the worst players I have ever seen can’t pass can’t head the ball #safc”

Credit: @Safcftm2016

“10 minutes in and can already see McFadzean is an accident waiting to happen #PORSUN”

Credit: @j_rennoldson23

“They seen McFadzean is the weak link and targeting him. You’ll get something from that.”

Credit: @widger123

In other news, find out who else was slammed for his display against Pompey here!

Leicester City will play host to Europa League opponents Slavia Prague this evening following their 0-0 stalemate in the reverse fixture at the Sinobo Stadium. The Foxes are unbeaten in their last six fixtures and will hope that a win at the King Power will keep their positive streak running.

James Maddison will be unavailable for selection after he was forced off the pitch against Aston Villa. He sustained a hip injury and Brendan Rodgers confirmed he will miss out on the Europa League action, but admitted the midfielder shouldn’t requite any more surgery.

Whilst this will be a blow to Leicester in midfield, all eyes will be on how they set up without the influential England international. Football FanCast has predicted what team Rodgers will field this evening…

With Maddison not available to slot into the attacking midfield role as normal, Rodgers may opt to revert to a 3-4-3 formation and make use of his full-backs. This could see both Luke Thomas and Ricardo Pereira start in a more advanced role in order to contribute to the attack. The latter started further forward on the right flank against Villa and put in a solid performance considering it was out of his comfort zone.

In the heart of the midfield, Youri Tielemans’ presence will add creativity, but Wilfred Ndidi could be demoted in place of Hamza Choudhury. Leicester have a Premier League match against Arsenal just three days after their meeting with Slavia Prague and Rodgers can’t afford for key players to burn out. This could also be the reasoning behind a Cengiz Under start, which will be just his ninth for Leicester if he’s named amongst the 11 tonight.

The £94,000 per week loan signing has been limited with his game time since joining the Premier League outfit, but has been given a good run in the cup competitions. As per Transfermarkt, Under has played just eight league matches but has been a regular in the Europa League. He will fill in for Marc Albrighton, who was quite disappointing in the reverse fixture. He managed just 11 passes and 32 passes in total, which was less than goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel with 20 and 47 respectively, according to Sofascore.

With all to play for, Leicester must strike early and ensure the grab themselves the upper hand on home soil. An attack of Under, Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy will be hungry secure their spot in the next round of the Europa League.

In other news, Steve Howey labels James Justin injury as a “huge blow”…

West Ham United were dealt a huge blow in their FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday night with Angelo Ogbonna sustaining an ankle injury.

That’s according to the Evening Standard, who note that the Italian centre-half is due for scans after twisting his left ankle while blocking a goal-bound shot from Anthony Martial 16 minutes into the fifth round loss.

Ogbonna let out a hellish scream while down on the Old Trafford turf, but was able to limp back to the dressing room time with the help of the Irons medical team after receiving treatment for quite some.

Moyes will fear Ogbonna facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines having seen the 32-year-old establish a strong partnership beside Watford loanee Craig Dawson in recent weeks, and turn in several pivotal performances to help West Ham contend for European qualification.

The Irons boss also lauds Ogbonna as an important part of his plans at the London Stadium, and confirmed that the former Juventus enforcer has sustained an ankle injury while speaking following Tuesday’s defeat.

“Angelo will be a miss because he has played very well for us. He is a player who has been in the team every game for us, he is important to us,” he said, via quotes by football.london.

The Manchester United affair was Ogbonna’s 25th start of the season across all competitions, having opened all 23 of West Ham’s Premier League games to date plus two of their FA Cup ties.

Moyes has only opted to rest the £4.5m-rated titan against League One side Doncaster Rovers in the fourth round of the FA Cup, as well as all three of his side’s Carabao Cup fixtures.

Moyes’ worst fears coming true and Ogbonna now facing a lengthy spell out of action may leave the West Ham boss with only two fit centre-halves for when his side host Sheffield United in the Premier League on Monday night.

Issa Diop came on to replace Ogbonna against Manchester United, but later became the first player in English football history to be substituted through the recently implemented concussion protocols.

The Frenchman was taken off at half-time following a clash of heads with Martial, to potentially leave Fabian Balbuena and Dawson as Moyes’ only fit out-and-out senior options.

That being the case will afford Balbuena a chance to step up and regain his place in the starting line-up, having fallen into the wilderness in line with Dawson’s progress and be linked with a potential Deadline Day move away from east London last week.

Balbuena had also been tipped to earn a new contract following his run in the side earlier in the campaign, but is now inside the final six-months of his £40,000-per-week deal and has not featured in the top-flight since December 27.

After starting 12 of West Ham’s first 15 league games, the £7m-rated defender has since been left an unused substitute on six occasions and omitted from two matchday squads, while also left on the bench at Old Trafford despite the injuries to Ogbonna and Diop.

Clearly, Moyes prefers a partnership of Ogbonna and Dawson at the back now, but that will likely not be the case against Sheffield United on Monday after the blows suffered in the FA Cup.

AND in other news, West Ham will have to pay in excess of £26.5m to land a prolific 18 goal striker in the summer…

Sheffield Wednesday caused one of the shocks of the Championship season so far on Tuesday night as they downed a promotion favourite to move one step closer to safety.

Substitute striker Jordan Rhodes came off the bench to score a 90th-minute winner for Neil Thompson’s Owls side at AFC Bournemouth. The victory moved them up into the final relegation place, just three points behind Birmingham with a game in hand, too.

The severity of the result was seen after full-time as the home side sacked their manager, Jason Tindall.

ExaminerLive’s Dom Howson rated Keiren Westwood as his ‘Man of the Match’ in his post-match ratings, grading him an 8/10. He wrote: ‘Pulled off a string of fine saves after the break to frustrate Bournemouth.’

This echoed the thoughts of several of the Hillsborough faithful who were watching from home: one supporter dubbed him the “best keeper in the league” whilst another claimed the veteran continues to prove Garry Monk wrong.

While his influence was vital – especially with that last-minute save to seal the win – it was another Owls star who ran the show on the night.

Barry Bannan was as influential as ever as Wednesday’s captain in the heart of the engine room.

No Owls player was as involved as much as the Scotsman. He recorded 56 touches, ten more than any other visiting starter on the night.

He also made one key pass, proving to be as creative as ever, and won 75% of his duels, meaning he had the better of the likes of Jack Wilshere and Lewis Cook, and put in three tackles, via SofaScore.

Industrious.

Bannan topped the charts for tackles in this match, so he clearly had a major influence on dictating the play and thwarting whatever the Cherries threw at them during the 90 minutes.

Not even central defensive duo Tom Lees and Sam Hutchinson combined for as many as the 31-year-old’s three, as per SofaScore.

The midfield beast, who is valued at £1.8m by Transfermarkt, has started all 26 of the Owls’ league outings and it’s hardly a surprise given the impact he has on this team.

He was Thompson’s star man once again as he stole the show on the south coast.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Palmer drops Sheffield Wednesday manager claim

Southampton have had some quality players come through their academy in recent times, with the likes of James Ward-Prowse and Jack Stephens both establishing themselves as first-team regulars under Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Now, the Saints look to have another youngster on the brink of breaking into the Austrian’s first-team squad, in the shape of Swiss U19 international Alexandre Jankewitz.

The midfielder joined the Southampton academy from Swiss side Servette in 2018 and has been impressing with David Horseman’s B team in his time with the South Coast club.

After progressing through the U18 set-up, Jankewitz has now made 28 appearances for the B team, in which he has contributed one assist.

The 19-year-old was rewarded with a three-year contract in 2019 meaning he is set to stay with the Saints until 2022, at least.

The Swiss midfielder made his first appearance on the bench for the Saints in their 3-1 win at Watford last season, which led Hasenhuttl to suggest that:

“I think he’s the next young guy for us.”

The Southampton writer for The Athletic Dan Sheldon recently picked Jankewitz as his Saints youngster to keep an eye on in 2021.

He also suggested that during the summer transfer window, the midfielder was attracting interest from Serie A side Parma and La Liga giants Barcelona, which is testament to the youngster’s obvious potential.

Sheldon describes the 19-year-old as someone who is capable of playing as both a box-to-box midfielder and a holding-midfielder, who is technically very good, with his long-range passing amongst his best attributes.

Therefore, he could definitely be compared with current Saints captain Ward-Prowse, who has gone on to make 296 appearances for the first-team at Southampton, and perhaps we will see him break into Hasenhuttl’s first-team at some point this year.

And, in other news… Exclusive: Palmer claims Southampton target would “feel loved again” working under Hasenhuttl

Ross Wilson dodged a massive bullet by not signing Manuel Benson in the summer after it emerged that Glasgow Rangers were reportedly eyeing up a move for the Royal Antwerp winger.

According to a report at the time from The Daily Record, Rangers were ‘exploring’ a swoop for the Belgian as Steven Gerrard tried to stop Celtic winning ten titles in a row.

Wilson sought to bolster Gerrard’s firepower last year by plotting a double raid on the Belgian top-flight as it seems the Gers were also considering a bid for former Stoke City and West Brom striker Saido Berahino at the same time.

However, they soon cooled their interest after the arrivals of Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe.

It would have been a challenge for Rangers to acquire the services of Benson, anyway, as his boss Ivan Leko was reluctant to sell his prized asset.  Yet it appears they have dodged a bullet in doing so given his struggles this season thus far.

Benson, who is a former teammate of Hagi, has previously been praised by his national coach Johan Walem for being part of a “talented” group of Belgian youngsters before the U21 European Championships last year.

However, it’s fair to say that he has struggled to hit the ground running this season, as goals have been hard to come by during an injury-disrupted campaign. Benson spent a brief spell on the sidelines and has yet to score since the 3-1 win at home to Ludogorets in the Europa League.

The 23-year-old has provided two goals and two assists in 24 appearances across all competitions for Antwerp, via Transfermarkt.

Leko has recently taken to benching the former Belgium U21 international in an attempt to trigger a reaction, with Benson being left on the bench as an unused substitute on seven occasions in the Belgian top-flight so far.

He has even suffered the ignominy of being dropped from the matchday squads as he was left out of the sides to face Waasland-Beveren and RSC Charleroi before the turn of the year, so the Gers can count themselves lucky they decided against signing the misfiring £1.5m-rated ace.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers dealt huge injury blow after Old Firm clash with Celtic…

According to The Athletic’s Gregg Evans, Aston Villa won’t be pursuing a move for Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard in the January transfer window.

Johan Lange won’t pay up

Reports over the summer suggested that the Frenchman was a potential target for Dean Smith’s side, with Celtic boss Neil Lennon admitting that he was hopeful he would stay at Parkhead.

In the end, Edouard stayed put, and Evans now claims that Villa won’t be reigniting their interest in the centre-forward when the January transfer window opens in just over a week’s time.

Although it’s claimed that Villa will look to be proactive, they “are not expected to spend the sort of money that would be required to sign” Edouard, and that’s a major mistake from Johan Lange.

Smith must be fuming

Given the incredible start Villa have enjoyed to the Premier League season, Smith will surely feel he’s done more than enough to see the club’s owners and sporting director to release some of the club’s transfer warchest.

The Midlands club currently find themselves in ninth place, but were they to win both their games in hand on those sides above them in the table, would be just three points off leaders Liverpool.

Ollie Watkins has proven to be a masterstroke of a signing since his arrival from Brentford, bagging eight goals in 15 games. And whilst the Englishman has led the line superbly, bringing in Edouard in January would strengthen Villa’s firepower up top no end.

He’s fired in nine goals in 19 matches for Celtic, and the man described as a “special talent” would significantly boost Villa’s chances of breaking up the Premier League’s big six and finishing in a European place this season.

If it comes to the end of the season, and Villa miss out because they didn’t strengthen up front, then Smith would understandably be furious with those in charge at the club.

Meanwhile, Villa must desperately sell this £40k-p/w flop, Dean Smith has “seen enough”.

Glasgow Rangers should consider themselves fortunate after Scott Arfield spared their blushes against Standard Liege in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Steven Gerrard’s side conceded twice before the break before Arfield completed the comeback with a sensational strike in the second half to seal a thrilling 3-2 win at Ibrox.

It’s no secret Gerrard has wanted a box-to-box, all-action central midfielder for some time, with Rangers signing Bongani Zungu from French Ligue 2 side Amiens on an initial loan deal with the option to buy on transfer deadline day.

Such is the strength in depth, it’s fair to say that the Ibrox boss is spoilt for choice in midfield. Gerrard has plenty of options to choose from with Arfield, Joe Aribo, Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack and Zungu all vying for three central midfield roles.

The Liverpool legend himself was famous for his box-to-box style of play who was an attacking threat as well, having scored 186 goals and supplied 136 assists in 710 appearances for the Reds, before hanging up his boots in 2017.

Whilst it would be a bit of a stretch too far to suggest that Arfield is on the same level, they do share certain similarities in terms of their playing style.

Just like Gerrard, WhoScored lists one of Arfield’s main strengths as his defensive contribution, whilst he is also an indirect threat at set-pieces as well.

You can’t pick many holes in Gerrard’s side, but if there is one area they need to improve, it’s the fact that they have mostly struggled to score goals from the midfield, although the 32-year-old is the joint second-highest scorer so far this season along with Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe as they have all scored seven goals apiece.

Former Scotland striker James McFadden has heaped praise on the 32-year-old for his “sensational” form and if these numbers are anything to go by, it’s easy to see why.

Valued at £1.8m via Transfermarkt, in 15 games in the Scottish Premiership this season, the former Canada international has bagged four goals and five assists so far, whilst he is averaging 1.6 shots and 1 key pass per game, via WhoScored.

With his contract set to run out in 2022, Ross Wilson must start to think about tying him down to a new deal. If the Gers are to secure their first major piece of silverware since the 2010-11 season, we suspect the Canadian may have a part to play.

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard must bench Glasgow Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos for the foreseeable future…