All posts by h716a5.icu

Steven Gerrard could make as many as five changes to his Glasgow Rangers starting XI when they take on St Johnstone.

Fresh from their 1-0 victory over Hibernian, the fixtures are coming thick and fast for Rangers, though they have managed to avoid a major injury crisis, such is the strength of Gerrard’s squad.

However, with the Europa League set to resume in a matter of weeks, we may well see some rotation to the starting XI, though Scott Arfield has been ruled out due to injury.

Taking this into account, Football FanCast have predicted what the Rangers starting line-up could look like, with our team showing Gerrard ring five changes to the team that secured the 1-0 win at Easter Road.

As ever, Allan McGregor will wear the gloves but this time, he’ll be behind a back four consisting of Calvin Bassey, Leon Balogun, Connor Goldson and James Tavernier.

Borna Barisic may well be afforded the night off as he has played an awful lot of games as of late with Bassey coming in for a rare start. Apart from his most recent performance, Filip Helander has struggled to make much of an impression under Gerrard this season thus far.

It would make sense, therefore, if the Swede was rested on Wednesday, with Balogun more than capable of filling in at the back.

With Alfredo Morelos currently suspended, Kemar Roofe is set to return to the starting line-up after recovering from injury.

The 28-year-old versatile forward suffered an injury shortly before halftime in the second Old Firm clash of the season againt Celtic at the start of the year but he has now made a full recovery and will likely lead the line in the absence of Morelos.

To the left of the Jamaican in attack will be the ever-reliable Ryan Kent, whilst Ianis Hagi will replace Joe Aribo on the right flank, he will drop deep to form a midfield three with Glen Kamara and Steven Davis.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers dealt blow in their pursuit of Rochdale’s Kwadwo Baah…

Many Crystal Palace fans are reacting to the latest update on the future of current manager Roy Hodgson, as reports suggest he might not leave at the end of the season.

According to TEAMtalk and tweeted out by @cpfc_xtra, Crystal Palace remain open to the idea of Roy Hodgson staying on for another season, although the interest in the job has never been higher.

Hodgson’s contract was due to run out at the end of last season, but the club extended it by a further year. Now, with only a few months left until that deal expires, his future has been getting discussed a lot in the media.

The 73-year-old has been at the club since September 2017 and has taken charge of 148 matches (Transfermarkt). In these games, he has managed 1.24 points per game and has kept the South London side comfortably in the division. Clearly many have respected his time at the club, with one calling him a ‘class act’.

However, the Eagles’ form recently has been far from impressive. A Hodgson side is typically known for its stern defence, but this campaign they have only managed four clean sheets. They have also only won three games in the last fourteen and this emphasises that the manager has struggled this season.

Here is how Palace fans reacted to the news:

“I don’t know how I’ll cope if this happens”

Credit: @BMCPFC

“Can’t keep watching this boring rubbish football we pay money to be entertained and were not”

Credit: @MarkDre44138040

“I’ll give up if that happens.”

Credit: @Swanny_32

“I haven’t even got the energy for this right now”

Credit: Machutuck

“If they do then I’m not watching one game till he’s sacked”

Credit: @cpfcjj89

“Think Parish might just be the only Palace fan who wants Roy to stay on.”

Credit: @Nyerider

In other news, CPFC fans were fuming at one-star during a recent loss. Have a read who it was here!

Southampton progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 2-0 win against Wolves at Molineux on Thursday night, setting up a trip to Bournemouth in the next round.

Goals from Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong were enough to hand Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side the victory, with the hosts rarely threatening as they continue to struggle in the absence of Raul Jimenez.

Whilst Armstrong might earn the plaudits after an excellent all-round display, it was perhaps the performance of Ryan Bertrand that stood out the most against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

As per SofaScore, the left-back would earn an 8.5 match rating for his display, which was the best of any player on the pitch, whilst Armstrong would earn an 8.2 rating, which was the second-best.

The former Chelsea man was superb from both an attacking and a defensive point of view, providing the pass for Danny Ings’ opening goal at Molineux.

The 31-year-old was on top form with his defending, as he made two interceptions and two tackles during the game, whilst he wasn’t dribbled past once – despite Wolves bringing on Adama Traore in the second half.

Traore failed with all three of his dribble attempts and earned a 5.8 match rating for his performance, which emphasises that Bertrand well and truly had the better of him at Molineux.

The Saints left-back also impressively won all six of his duels during the game, whereas Kyle Walker-Peters would win just two of his five duels on the opposite flank, which again demonstrates that he was on the top of his game on Thursday evening.

However, it was perhaps his attacking play that was most impressive, as he played as many as five key passes during the game – more than any other player on the pitch and more than all of the Wolves players combined.

In the Premier League this season, Bertrand has averaged just 0.5 key passes per game, which highlights just how good he was against the Old Gold.

Hasenhuttl will surely be delighted with the left-back’s impressive display and will be hoping for a repeat when his side face Wolves again at St Mary’s on Sunday.

And, in other news… Saints bringing 6 ft 3 beast to St Mary’s on a free would surely be bad news for Salisu

Matt Ritchie may have met the end of his road at Newcastle United after Steve Bruce hit out at the winger following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The former Scotland international was one of four players Bruce called out in his post-game media duties for their role in letting a one-goal lead fail to return all three points.

Bruce also pointed his finger at goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and defender Jamal Lewis for their roles in Wolves’ equaliser, and criticised Joelinton for his slack finishing.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s Molineux natives pulled level through Ruben Neves entering the final quarter of an hour, after Lewis was beaten easily and failed to block Pedro Neto’s cross.

Dubravka got a full hand on Neves’ header but failed to get sufficient strength behind his contact to prevent the ball from finding the net.

The Wolves midfielder had been left unchallenged in the centre of the box, as Ritchie failed to pass on instructions of a formation change after replacing the injured Emil Krafth.

“The instructions Matty didn’t get on to the team quick enough on how we were doing it,” Bruce said, via quotes by Chronicle Live. “When you look at the goal, we should have stopped the cross and when the ‘keeper looks at it, could he have done better?”

Bruce then added his thoughts on Joelinton wasting a golden chance to put Newcastle back ahead in the dying stages, after the Brazilian’s effort from 12-yards out was bundled over the bar by Romain Saiss despite having the beating of Wolves shot-stopper Rui Patricio.

“I think he should score,” the Toon boss noted. “It was a great run by [Jacob] Murphy and it was a big, big chance with, what was it, seven minutes to go? I’ve just seen it back again and it’s a big, huge opportunity that we missed.”

Bruce had brought Ritchie on in the 72nd-minute for the £45,000-per-week midfielder’s first Premier League appearance since January, having played no role in Newcastle’s past eight games.

The 31-year-old had been a regular at St. James’ Park over the festive period following a shoulder injury, starting five of eight top-flight fixtures, but fell out of favour amid negotiations with AFC Bournemouth over a potential return to the Vitality Stadium.

Bruce made clear that United would listen to offers for the £8.5m-rated outcast during the winter transfer market, as Ritchie had become “frustrated” with not playing week-in, week-out.

But Bournemouth failed to present a satisfactory offer prior to Deadline Day, so negotiations broke down and a move was called off.

With Ritchie only playing 18 of a possible 450 minutes since the window slammed shut and Bruce’s comments suggesting that he felt let down by the veteran’s lack of leadership at a crucial time, it could be curtains for the Gosport-born winger’s long-term Magpies future.

The St. James’ Park natives will surely be opposed to continue paying Ritchie a large sum each week with little to no return, so will likely look to move the midfielder on again in the off-season – despite presenting him with a new contract last March, one that runs until 2023.

AND in other news, Newcastle have joined the race for a sought-after “real talent” capable of “outstanding” displays…

After suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat in his first game in charge of Sheffield Wednesday against Rotherham, Darren Moore saw his side swept away 3-0 by Reading in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls did themselves no favours when Julian Borner was sent off for a challenge as the last man, with Michael Olise stepping up to score the resulting spot kick.

Goals from Lucas Joao and Andy Yiadom in the second half compounded Wednesday’s misery, with the Yorkshire side now having lost six Championship games in a row.

However, while Borner will undoubtedly be the man to criticise after the game as the scores were level at 0-0 before his red card, Kadeem Harris produced a woeful display and badly let his manager down.

After being dropped to the bench for Moore’s first game in charge of the side against Rotherham, Harris was restored to the starting line-up for the clash at the Madejski Stadium.

The right-winger just couldn’t justify his manager’s faith in him, though,struggling to really pick out the right passes when in promising positions and getting muscled off it far too easily – as per Sofascore, he lost four out of his five duels on the day.

Harris attempted no shots on goal and failed to complete any of his three attempted dribbles, and that rather summed up his efforts in an attacking sense – even centre-back Tom Lees managed two efforts on goal, as per Sofascore.

Writing in his post-match player ratings, Dom Howson gave Harris a four, noting: “Moore restored the wide man to the starting XI but Harris was not at the races. Lost possession on multiple occasions and too often his decision making let him down in the final third.”

While Borner’s red card will take the headlines, Harris’ ineffective performance really cost his manager on Saturday against the Royals after being given the nod to start.

Premier League side Wolves have been linked with a move for Schalke midfielder Omar Mascarell.

It has been reported that Nuno Santo’s men could end up landing Mascarell on a cut-price deal, with the player seemingly destined to leave the club in the summer transfer window.

Wolves could bag Mascarell for a cheap price

A report from Spanish outlet AS has given an update about Mascarell’s future at Schalke. It says that while he is waiting until the end of the season to make a decision about his future, he could well decide to leave Schalke at the end of the campaign in case of relegation.

Wolves have enquired about the midfielder, who has started to consider his future because of Schalke’s dire situation – an offer of £4.3 million and Schalke could well be forced to sell the player.

Mascarell’s contract at the German club runs out in the summer of 2022 and he is currently valued at £6.75 million. He is a product of the Real Madrid youth academy.

Mascarell could be a smart signing for Wolves

Mascarell has a lot of Bundesliga experience, as he’s played for Eintracht Frankfurt as well. He can play in multiple positions on the pitch – central midfield, defensive midfield and even centre-back.

As things stand, Wolves have four centre-back options but Nuno has been happy to rotate players like Leander Dendoncker and Romain Saïss through both midfield and his back three, so Mascarell is exactly the type of player the manager would appreciate in his squad.

Mascarell could add depth in multiple positions and as the report suggests, he won’t be an expensive signing either, so the 28-year-old could be a sensible move for Wolves.

In other news, a Wolves forward could be sold in the summer – read more here.

As first reported by the Telegraph, Derby County owner and chairman Mel Morris has finally ended takeover negotiations with Dubai-based billionaire Sheikh Khaled after Bin Zayed International failed to complete a deal in time – prompting many Rams to react as one called it ‘great news’. 

Morris and Derby County had been in takeover talks with BZI for nearly 12 months, with the Championship club chairman understood to be ‘furious’ as negotiations fall through.

The Telegraph explain that this is the third time Khaled has failed to takeover an English club, having failed in his previous attempts to buy both Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Despite the negative nature of this update, some Rams believe this could be a blessing in disguise and ‘great news’ as their club are now open to discussions with more serious parties – with Derby apparently pursuing other options.

However, flocking to this takeover development, many other supporters also had their say and dropped a wide array of responses – find them down below.

Derby fans flock to takeover development

“Great news, yes it has been a waste of a year, but what’s done is done, didn’t want this lot anywhere near the club after the way they have left the club in limbo at such a crucial time, time to move on”

Credit: @dcfcpete82

“wow”

Credit: @MrLukeCE

“Finally”

Credit: @Lewisdcfc1

“This is unbelievable, total mess! What a waste of everyone’s time it’s been”

Credit: @MattieD3

“Good, now we can finally move on from this circus, they were never going to buy the club in the first place, they have failed to buy the likes of Newcastle, West Ham and one or two others previously.”

Credit: @AmbroseBarnaby

“Good result let’s move on & get a reliable set of owners in, people who are interested in progressing the club, hardly worth taking the sheikh to court he hasn’t paid his last court case yet so he hardly going to honour this one either”

Credit: @rabbram10

“Thank god for that”

Credit: @derbyram1968

In other news: Derby fans were left seething by this man’s performance last week, find out more here.

Plenty of Crystal Palace fans have been reacting to the club’s official Twitter post regarding two fixture amendments for April.

Roy Hodgson’s side aren’t in action until after the international break, and their next fixture has now been pushed back a further two days.

Everton and Chelsea fixtures impacted

The Eagles will now make the trip to take on Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton on Monday 5th April, with the game set to be broadcast on Sky Sports.

Palace’s following fixture, a home clash against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, will also be on Sky Sports and will now kick off at 5:30pm on Saturday 10th April.

Following last weekend’s win over West Brom, Palace seem to be all but safe. Fulham, in 18th, are 11 points behind the Eagles, with six sides in between the two London sides. That said, fans didn’t seem overly optimistic as they reacted to the news of the new fixture arrangements.

This is what these Palace fans had to say to the update following the club’s official Twitter post on Monday, with many addressing the extra two days until the next game and one sarcastically labelling it as ‘great’.

Palace fans react

“Oh great another day added to Palace’s break”

Credit: @SELDjw

“Yesss I’ve got to wait 2 extra days to be disappointed by Palace”

Credit: @CPFCknighty

“Our break just got a couple of days longer….”

Credit: @TCPalacePod

“2 day extra break from having to watch us play again”

Credit: @s_cpfc

“Great! Two games on sky where they’ll spend the hour before covering other games rather than pre-match analysis on our game. Aren’t we lucky!”

Credit: @SomePalaceGuy

“These last 9 fixtures give me the 7 losses in a row vibe”

Credit: @foursixzeroszn

In other news: Palace fans have been reacting to Matt Woosnam’s recent post on Roy Hodgson, find out more here.

James Ward-Prowse has become undroppable at Southampton in recent seasons and his impressive performances under Ralph Hasenhuttl have seen his market value rise to its highest-ever point.

The 26-year-old has enjoyed an impressive campaign in the Premier League which has seen him contribute seven goals and five assists in 29 top-flight appearances, helping him earn an impressive 7.10 average rating.

This is enough to see him ranked as Southampton’s best performer in the Premier League so far this season, which emphasises just how important he is in Hasenhuttl’s side.

Only Jan Bednarek and Ward-Prowse have appeared in every top-flight fixture this season, with the Englishman one constant in a Saints midfield which has been chopped and changed throughout the season, as a result of the various injury issues with which Hasenhuttl has had to contend.

The Saints captain is a product of the youth academy and has slowly seen his market value on Transfermarkt rise in recent seasons as a result of impressive performances, but his time under Hasenhuttl in particular has really seen his value shoot up.

When the Austrian was appointed in December 2018, Ward-Prowse’s market value moved down to just £13.5m, but in the two-and-a-half years since, it has reached a new high of £25.2m.

The 26-year-old’s call-up to the England squad will undoubtedly have helped with this but you must credit both Ward-Prowse and Hasenhuttl for the way he has improved in the last couple of seasons.

The one worry for Southampton will now be whether they can keep hold of their captain moving forwards, as this has been one of his best seasons in the Premier League, with his set pieces in particular earning him a lot of plaudits.

Tottenham Hotspur has been touted as a potential option for the 26-year-old in the future, with Glenn Hoddle suggesting he could replace Christian Eriksen at the north London club, so perhaps we will see some interest in the midfielder in the summer.

Considering his value is at an all-time high, Southampton vice-chairman Martin Semmens may well be licking his lips at the prospect of cashing in on Ward-Prowse for a hefty fee in the summer.

In other news… Southampton signing £7.2m-rated gem could be bad news for £55k-p/w Saints regular

Many Everton fans have been left hailing a triple transfer link to Kalidou Koulibaly, Adrien Rabiot and Lautaro Martinez.

As per Calciomercato, Koulibaly is at the top of the transfer wish list of Carlo Ancelotti, and he also likes Rabiot and Martinez a lot.

The Goodison Park faithful could well be backed financially in the upcoming summer transfer window, meaning that they could potentially afford to bring in all of these players, it may just be a matter of whether they would like to join or not.

Three household names in European football, the Merseyside club would do very well to bring even one of those in, especially without any UEFA Champions League football (as things stand), but the pull of Ancelotti is a big one, having brought in the likes of James Rodriguez and Allan into the Toffees last summer.

Everton fan reaction to Koulibaly, Rabiot and Martinez link

These Blues hailed the link to all three players on Twitter, with one EFC supporter even going as far as to claim that they would be ‘huge’ signings:

“Any of them would be epic. My bet would be on Rabiot on loan with Kean going Juve on loan.”

Credit: @rlfansSaddened

“Wow. They’re three names I like.”

Credit: @cazzawarrington

“Christ they would be huge huge signings”

Credit: @_benm1878

“Winning the league with those 3!”

Credit: @DeanJHD

“Imagine”

Credit: @craigwooton

“Would be extremely happy with all these + hopefully Aarons”Credit: @efccoleIn other news, find out what subtle Ancelotti dig has been slammed by fans here!