Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has claimed that he has ‘never felt better’ following his recent run of matches for the Red Devils.
Shaw, 22, looked to be heading out of Old Trafford after struggling for football in the early weeks of the 2017-18 campaign.
The England international has worked his way back into the picture in recent weeks, however, to start United’s last three Premier League matches.
The defender, who is valued at £13.5m by transfermarkt.co.uk, was still said to be dealing with the effects of the horrific double leg fracture that he suffered whilst playing in the Champions League towards the end of 2015.
However, Shaw has revealed that he is currently in a very good place both physically and mentally as he looks to nail-down the left-back spot for United.
Shaw told United Review:
“A bad injury like I had always stays with you a little bit afterwards but it’s in the past and I feel really good and really fit, and my leg feels perfect.
“Body-wise and fitness-wise I probably feel the best I’ve ever felt. Mentally I feel very strong as well and I’m enjoying my football, and it’s now about pushing on and helping the team.”
Ashley Young’s recent suspension and Antonio Valencia’s hamstring injury has seen Shaw enjoy a lot of football for United over the last few weeks.
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Meanwhile, the left-back is still said to have an outside chance of making the England squad for the 2018 World Cup.
Howard Webb has escaped demotion, despite making high profile blunders during the FA Cup clash between Arsenal and Liverpool on Sunday, reports the Daily Mirror.
England’s World Cup referee is set to take charge of Hull City’s clash with Cardiff at the weekend.
The news comes after Webb refused to give Liverpool what looked a clear penalty during their 2-1 defeat at the Emirates, when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain tripped Luis Suarez just minutes after he had awarded a spot kick following Lukas Podolski’s trip on the Uruguayan.
Webb also decided not to give Reds captain Steven Gerrard a second yellow card for a mistimed tackle in the second half.
However, the Premier League remain reluctant to demote officials, unless they have a bad run of mistakes rather than what they consider one-off mistakes.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed his disappointment at Webb’s performance, saying: “It’s a blatant penalty and we’re very disappointed not to get it.
“It was absolutely another penalty. With the first one Luis gets clipped and it’s a clear penalty, but the second one was even clearer.
“Howard was in a great position. I’m not sure if it was because it was so quick after the first one.
“With the type of player he is and the aggression in our offensive play we provoke a lot of challenges, especially Luis, who is always in and around the box asking questions of defenders. Quite a lot of the time he doesn’t get what he deserves.
“He got one today, but should have had two. If it’s a penalty he should get it, irrespective of what his reputation is. For me that was quite an easy decision.
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“We came here and virtually dominated. To end up with nothing disappoints.”
Managers moan constantly about referees, opposition players and anything else that draws away from their own short-comings. But is that really a bad thing when club bosses are drawing attention to acts of violent conduct or even more rarely if they are right.
I believe if in Alan Pardew’s situation if he’s sees his playmaker getting elbowed in the face he has every right to draw attention to the situation after the match. If Pardew is correct then Robin Van Persie has gone out and intentionally tried to hurt and possibly injure one of his star players, then he has every right to pressure in the FA into acting on the incident. Equally should Sir Alex Ferguson have come out and mentioned how incensed he was about Cheick Tiote’s disgusting, dangerous stamp on Tom Cleverley, I wouldn’t have had an issue with it.
I have less time and sympathy for Tony Pulis wanting Luis Suarez to be banned for diving. While I don’t deny Suarez’s dive displayed a willingness to cheat and con an official, he isn’t hurting anyone. Also within the context of the game, there were far worse actions displayed by those representing the Welshman at Anfield. While I wouldn’t be overly bothered if the Uruguay international was handed a three game ban I’d rather see Robert Huth reprimanded for his deliberate stamp on Suarez or Dean Whitehead handed further punishment for his scissor tackle on Raheem Sterling. Or maybe the FA ought to hit the pocket of the team who stepped out on Merseyside to hurt and injure more influential members of the opposition team. Football is a man’s game but the Potters often play with an aggression and ferocity that has no place in the sport.
While it is obvious referees have a tough job and managers often look to displace blame and perhaps ought to be more accountable for their own short-comings. I have no issue with managers speaking out against the actions of other teams. As fans we all do it, if I’m in stadium or pub watching a game and I disagree with a decision or action from a player I’m going to shout and moan, about it. Therefore for me to kick up a fuss when Newcastle’s gaffer is taking acceptation to a challenge from another team, it would hypercritical of me to be bothered or annoyed about it.
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Aston Villa will take on Fulham this weekend in the Championship playoff final.
The winner will rise into the Premier League, whilst the loser will spend another season at Championship level.
There is simply no downplaying the importance of the match between two teams that both feel that they should be operating at the highest level of English football.
Jack Grealish should line up in the Villa midfield this weekend, and the 22-year-old, who has recently been linked with Newcastle United, will be looking to add to the three goals and eight assists that he has managed in 33 appearances during the 2017-18 campaign.
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Grealish, who is valued at £4.5m by transfermarkt.co.uk, impressed in Villa’s two-legged playoff semi-final with Middlesbrough, and might well have a key role to play on Saturday afternoon.
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The Villa fans have been discussing their team’s chances in response to a tweet from Grealish, which was posted earlier this week, and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
On the surface, dismissing Mark Hughes was little more than the inevitable reaction to Stoke City winning just eight Premier League games since March, dropping into the relegation zone and suffering a shock defeat to League Two’s Coventry City in the Third Round of the FA Cup.
But scratch a little deeper and the end of the Welshman’s bid to transform the Potters into a fine-football institution of aesthetic ideals is a telling moment for the English game. With the gap between the best and the rest in the Premier League ever-increasing, and the gap between the rest and the relegated ever-decreasing, it may well be the last vanity project we see in the Premier League for some time.
That may come across as a pejorative description, but let’s not forget Hughes’ working brief after replacing Tony Pulis in summer 2013. The now-Middlesbrough boss had overseen five consecutive campaigns of Premier League survival, never finishing lower than 14th, but after freefall form during his final six months, the Coates family decided to pull the plug. They not only wanted to take Stoke City to a higher level in terms of league standing, but also style of football.
Hughes was allowed to bring in mercurial but exciting technical talents like Marko Arnuatovic, Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Ibrahim Afellay as he gradually moved the Potters away from the organised, defensive football that once made ‘a cold rainy night in Stoke’ a running Premier League cliché.
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And on the most part, the ambitious experiment worked; Stoke indeed improved their final standings, Hughes overseeing three consecutive campaigns of finishing in ninth place, while employing a more eye-catching and offensive style of play.
But eventually, the vanity project ran out of steam and Hughes found himself reverting back to the tactics of his predecessor – 2016/17 saw Stoke average the least possession, produce the most long balls and score the fewest goals from open play of his four full seasons in charge, while the stylistic tribulations of the current campaign have been embodied by a 36-year-old Peter Crouch desperately flinging himself at long, aimless punts into the box.
Perhaps that’s the biggest criticism of Hughes; somewhere along the line, the mission objective was forgotten amid the need for results. But that’s not necessarily a consequence of Hughes betraying the ideals he was working towards – rather, the changing dynamics of a polarising Premier League.
The statistics are impossible to ignore and barring Leicester City’s anomalous, miraculous 2015/16 season which shook up the entire division like 20 pieces in a kaleidoscope, average possession, shots per game and goals per game for clubs finishing outside the top seven steadily decreased over the last five seasons, while the current term has seen six-year lows on all three fronts.
Likewise, the gap between seventh and eighth – 15 points – and between eighth and 17th was the highest and lowest respectively of the last five years during 2016/17.
Accordingly, the survival chances of every mid-table side have drastically changed over the last 18 months, partly because there’s more finance available to the clubs below them, and partly because the gap between the top seven and the rest has become so staggeringly severe.
The consequence has been an inevitable shift towards defensive, counter-attacking football and while more technical-minded teams like Stoke, Southampton, Swansea and Bournemouth have duly suffered, those at the opposite end of the spectrum have thrived.
Just take a look at the Premier League table; it’s no coincidence all four of those are in the bottom five, while Burnley, Leicester, Huddersfield and Brighton fill the gap between 12th and 7th. Even Everton have risen to a comfortable ninth place under the clean-sheet-comes-first leadership of Sam Allardyce.
That’s down to, quite simply, footballing nature; if you’re a possession-based team but don’t have the best players in the division, you’re destined to struggle in a counter-attacking league purely by design. And make no mistake, that’s exactly what the Premier League has become outside the top clubs – a transformation that recently obliged Jamie Carragher to dub it a ‘joke league’.
“It’s not just Newcastle but the Premier League in general, when they come up against the top six, certainly at home, it’s becoming embarrassing. The Premier League now is becoming a bit of a joke league, with the top teams being so far ahead of the ones at the bottom.
“For those clubs, its almost like they are accepting they are going to lose the game, as long as it is only one or two-nil. The Premier League has been built on every team having a go, that’s why everyone around the world wants to watch it.
“Will they keep watching if they keep seeing football like that?”
Inevitably, while clubs like Stoke and Southampton could focus on their own objectives like style of football a few years ago, they can’t afford that luxury anymore as they become engulfed in the perennial scrap for survival.
Stoke’s isn’t the only vanity project that’s failed either; Crystal Palace’s flirtation with Total Football under Frank de Boer lasted just eight games before being deemed too much of a gamble by Steve Parish, Southampton are now paying the price – at Leicester’s privilege – for seeking something more than Claude Puel’s cautious football and West Ham’s attempts to bring expansive play to their new London Stadium ended with the appointment of David Moyes – a manager who immediately switched to five in defence and one up front.
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Indeed, while results made Hughes’ position at Stoke untenable, the changing dynamics of the Premier League made his demise inevitable. Now, we’ve reached a point where no Premier League side is capable of achieving what Stoke envisaged five years ago; top-half security accompanied by technical, possession-based football. The closest any side have come this season is Watford, who now find themselves just five points clear of the drop zone after a booming start under Marco Silva.
As things stand, with the big clubs even clearer of the rest of the pack in terms of finance and quality of football and the gap between the rest of the division becoming smaller, it’s hard to imagine any club even thinking about replicating the evolution Hughes attempted at Stoke, let alone it succeeding.
Hughes’ Stoke tenure may seem like a mere footnote amid 25 years of Premier League history, but its derisory end tells much about how the English top flight is rapidly changing.
Loic Remy has been lighting up the Premier League so far this season. Five goals in his last three appearances have seen Newcastle rise from their previously precarious position into the relatively sheltered mid-table.
Currently on loan from QPR, Remy is likely to be a man in high demand come the summer and Newcastle will be keen to ward off other interested suitors. The Mirror reports that the Magpies will move quickly to tie up a permanent deal for the Frenchman in January:
“Loic Remy will be handed the chance to seal a permanent move to Newcastle in January.”
“The Geordies have a £6million fee agreed with QPR for the on-loan striker, on top of the £2m they are already paying for his loan spell.”
It is widely believed that Tottenham will again revive their interest in the mercurial Frenchman, and Newcastle may well struggle to capture Remy should the North Londoners enter the battle.
Is this a fight Spurs should be drawn into?
Remy is undoubtedly a huge talent, his brief spell in England has been evidence enough for his ability and clearly someone of that class would fit in easily at most clubs.
Spurs though are already a club with a huge array of attacking talents. The frontline may be misfiring but few would argue that there are many striking departments with greater depth than Spurs’. Defoe, Soldado and Adebayor are all on their day quality options and I would argue the latter two are potentially world-class.
AVB continues to look towards a 4-2-3-1 variation meaning that at any one time only one of those frontmen can play. Add to these options the emerging potential of Harry Kane and you would struggle to see how Remy would really fit in at Spurs.
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My only thought is that Spurs may potentially look to move on an ageing Jermain Defoe whilst they still have the chance. Selling Defoe for anything around £5m and buying Remy for what is reportedly £8m and I think Spurs would have improved their options without spending too much.
The reason though that I think Spurs will avoid any deal for the Frenchman is of less of a footballing nature.
Remy is a renowned troublemaker with a rape case hanging over his head. Only last week he was embroiled in an incident involving his car and a taxi in the middle of Newcastle town centre, just one issue in a long line of misdemeanours. This isn’t the kind of player that Levy generally likes to take a punt on. Spurs are as much a marketing tool as they are a football club, someone like Loic Remy hardly adds to the kind of image that Spurs are trying to create. Moreover, AVB is building a team with a sense of cohesion, the addition of someone like Remy regardless of how good he is just creates the potential for unnecessary unrest. Why upset the balance that Spurs have achieved of late?
Another question is whether Remy really adds anything that Spurs don’t have already. He isn’t the same as either Defoe or Soldado, but he is in a way quite similar. All three are regarded as excellent finishers who are also somewhat limited in their general all round contributions. Having seen a bit of Soldado last season as well, I would argue of the three he offers the most complete option, whilst hardly a giant he does have the ability to hold up play and involve others in the attack.
So when Spurs consider a move for Remy they are effectively looking at £8-10m for a potential Soldado backup. If it was anyone else I would argue that this would be prudent business, relatively cheap in fact by current market standards. However, his previous off-field record speaks for itself and it is no surprise that there isn’t more interest in the Frenchman’s signature.
The lack of other big name clubs in the picture should be a warning to Spurs. Remy is clearly highly talented, but the lack of interest really speaks volumes of the man.
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So no Spurs shouldn’t be hijacking Newcastle’s deal. Spurs find themselves in the enviable position where they don’t need to go out on a whim in the transfer market and instead I expect their January activity to be much more calculated than a gamble like this.
For me the January money should be spent elsewhere.
Robin Van Persie’s late penalty earned Manchester United all three points against Liverpool on an emotionally charged afternoon at Anfield that saw Jonjo Shelvey sent off.
Victims of the Hillsborough disaster were remembered in poignant scenes with both clubs setting aside their rivalry to observe the pre-match ceremonies with impeccable decorum. There also no repeat of the ugly scenes from Old Trafford when Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra’s hand as the pair carried out the pre-match ritual with zero fuss.
When the action did get underway Liverpool dominated but lacked the finishing touch that would have brought them a well earned lead, Steven Gerrard going closest with a shot that sailed narrowly wide. United were struggling to deal with the home sides fluent passing and movement but were offered a route back into the game after Jonjo Shelvey was shown a straight red card for a reckless lunge on Jonny Evans much to the annoyance of Brendan Rodgers.
The Reds boss threw Suso on at the break in place of Fabio Borini and the youngster made an immediate impact as his cross fell to Glen Johnson, who did brilliantly to tee up Gerrard to volley past Anders Lindegard at the Kop End. That kicked Sir Alex Ferguson’s men into gear and they were level in the 51st minute as Rafael curled a brilliant effort past Pepe Reina after Shinji Kagawa chested Antonio Valencia’s cross from the right into his path.
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Lindegard twice came to his sides rescue as Liverpool pressed forward, saving from Luis Suarez and Suso, before Van Persie snatched victory from the penalty spot after Johnson brought down Valencia in the area after a collision between him Daniel Agger in the centre conceded possession, the latter worryingly leaving the field on a stretcher.
Justin Kluivert is sure to be one of the transfer window’s most sought-after talents with the 19-year-old being the latest hot prospect to come off the production line at Ajax.
Manchester United may well be looking for an injection of pace and quality after yet another season where their attack has spluttered and failed to keep pace with runaway champions and bitter rivals Manchester City.
That could see a deal get done – and there have been links between player and club – especially as Kluivert’s agent is one Mino Raiola, who has helped bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Old Trafford in recent windows.
However, it would appear that United fans are not that fond of the 50-year-old agent and would rather their club didn’t go anywhere near one of his clients.
We’ve taken a closer look at some of the more hostile reaction from the Reds fanbase…
Tottenham Hotspur are keeping tabs on Benfica left-back Alex Grimaldo, according to Jornal de Noticias.
What’s the word?
The North London outfit could be busy in January if the transfer gossip pages are anything to go by.
Danny Rose has been heavily linked with a move away from Spurs, with The Mirror recently claiming that the club will sell the left-back to Manchester United if they receive £50m.
It is believed that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has begun hunting for replacements, and according to the latest reports, Grimaldo is on the Premier League outfit’s radar.
talkSPORT cites Jornal de Noticias as saying that Spurs have one eye on the 22-year-old, while Napoli and Barcelona are also interested in the player.
Grimaldo, who is valued at £25m, is understood to be keen on leaving Benfica when the transfer window reopens next month.
Is he the right replacement?
At this stage, it is difficult to say. Numerous players have been touted as potential targets for the Premier League club, including Luke Shaw and Fulham youngster Ryan Sessegnon.
Both of those players are viable options, but there are also some question marks surrounding them.
Shaw has struggled for game time at Manchester United, starting just one league game, while Sessegnon has not experienced top-level pressure.
The teenager’s talent is clear to see, but being a direct replacement for Rose could be too much of an ask.
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Grimaldo has made nine league appearances and created three assists in the process this season.
The left-back also featured four times in the Champions League, but the Spaniard brings a risk of his own considering that he has zero experience of English football.
This summer, Manchester City added to their already illustrious cast of strikers with the acquisitions of Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic, for a combined total of £39million. The two join Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko in attack to create a strike-force of immense quality at the Etihad.
And indeed, it seems that having four forwards capable of finding the net on a regular basis is a pre-requisite in the Premier League title race nowadays. City claimed the English title on goal difference alone two years ago when they had Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli along with Aguero and Dzeko in attack, whilst last season, Manchester United’s acquisition of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal appeared to tip the balance back in their favour as they reasserted themselves as champions.
But so far this year, having four senior strikers on the books has been a double-edged sword for the Citizens.
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Aguero, despite being City’s only world-class centre-forward, has found the net just once domestically in his four Premier League appearances, in a continuation of last season’s form that saw him net just twelve goals in 30 games. Dzeko too, has found the net just once, despite Manuel Pellegrini granting the striker a rare starting role to shake off his reputation as the Skyblues’ super-sub. Similarly, Stevan Jovetic, although he was City’s second-largest summer expenditure and comes to Manchester with a preceding reputation from Serie A, has made just a single appearance in his less favoured attacking midfield role.
Of course, it’s only the beginning of the season, and many strikers start slow before gaining momentum towards the turn of the year. But so far it seems the greatest issue for any of the strikers in Pellegrini’s new system, which varies somewhere between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-2, has been to forge a successful partnership and strong understanding in the final third with their team-mates.
Excluding their dominant display against a very average Newcastle side on the opening day of the season, most of City’s goals, be they provided by a front man or otherwise, have come from moments of individual brilliance rather than the aesthetic brand of football the new Etihad boss has been trying to implement, and the simple but often effective ‘little and large’ approach with Dzeko and Aguero is yet to have the desired effect.
In my opinion, the source of the problem lies in the fact there’s no natural hierarchy to City’s attacking line-up. At Manchester United, the pecking order is relatively obvious, with Robin Van Persie as the main man closely supported by Wayne Rooney, and then it’s a toss up between Javier Hernandez for poaching prowess or Danny Welbeck if a more defensive and hard-working approach is required.
At Eastlands however, we have four strikers who could all claim a right to be in the first team on a regular basis, who all cost the club similar transfer fees. Aguero’s unrivalled quality surely puts him at the top of the pile, but after that it’s incredibly difficult to choose between Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic.
Dzeko’s promotion to a regular starter in particular has only complicated matters; being an almost permanent fixture on the substitutes bench under Roberto Mancini often came across harsh considering the Bosnian international contributed a steady supply of goals for the amount of playing time he actually received, but is he any more likely to significantly improve upon his average of 14 goals per season now that he’s playing week-in-week-out?
In my opinion, No. The 27 year-old is perhaps the most talented substitute the Premier League has to offer, but that is his special role in the team, his unique selling point of diversification if you will, and if a player can get you that amount of end product off the bench, then he may as well be utilised to that effect.
But it’s certainly not all doom and gloom for City’s strikers. Negredo has shown great promise to find the net twice in four appearances since arriving for £17million from Sevilla in the summer, coming off the bench against Cardiff and Hull to get on the score-sheet. The Spaniard’s direct approach and aerial prowess is a good fit for the English top flight, and he adds a new and exciting dimension to the Skyblues’ attack.
But overall, four goals from four strikers in four games is hardly what you’d describe as title-winning material, and it doesn’t justify a collective transfer value of over £100million.
I’m by no means suggesting that City’s strikeforce can’t significantly improve, in fact, it’s an incredibly safe bet to speculate that they will, but it’s quite clear that Pellegrini is undecided over who should be starting, who shouldn’t and for what occasion, and it’s very much a symptom of the wholesale changes at the Etihad arena over the summer.
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And it’s these kind of teething pains that could eventually cost the Skyblues the title. Whilst Manchester United benefit from the fact they’re still almost entirely the same outfit as last season, barring a like-for-like change in management and the arrival of former Evertonian Marouane Fellaini, the Citizens face a mild personality crisis in terms of determining firstly the way they play, and secondly, who should be the focal point of the attack.
Pellegrini needs to find answers sooner rather than later, and he’ll be hoping that the individual performances begin to illustrate a natural hierarchy. Tomorrow’s heavyweight derby with Manchester United is a huge test for the Chilean, but it’s also a chance for one of his strikers to claim their worth for a regular slot in the first team.
Is there too much confusion up front for the Citizens?