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Manchester United suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat by Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

After beating Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side seemed to have bounced back from the humiliating 6-1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur, but things quickly took a turn for the worse when Basaksehir punished shambolic defending to score two goals in quick succession.

Both Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw fired wide, before Basaksehir captain Edin Visca fired an early warning shot across the bows, which should’ve set alarm bells ringing.

Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, who famously capitalised on an infamous Steven Gerrard slip at Anfield in 2014, put the hosts ahead as he was left unmarked by Nemanja Matic and was allowed to run at the helpless goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who had been left stranded by by the United defence.

If the first time wasn’t bad enough, their defensive frailties were exposed once again as Deniz Turuc dispossessed Juan Mata to find Visca, who rifled a fine effort home.

Several players were at fault for the poor performance, arguably none more so than Bruno Fernandes, who had put Mata in a precarious position with a loose pass in the build-up to Visca’s goal.

Per SofaScore, the 23-cap Portugal international received an average rating of 6.8 for his disappointing display, which is fairly optimistic – he lost possession an astonishing 34 times throughout the game, only won one out of six duels overall, failed to complete a single cross and was dribbled past once.

Sky Sports gave Fernandes a low grade of 4/10, claiming it was “one of his worst games in a United shirt, giving the ball away 34 times, more than any other player on the pitch”, adding “his set-piece delivery was poor”, whilst The Manchester Evening News went even further with their scathing assessment, insisting “profligate with the ball again and played Mata into trouble prior to Visca’s finish” and admitting he is “having too many off days and nights.”

Quite why Fernandes played the full 90 minutes we will probably never understand as Paul Pogba came off the bench to replace Donny van de Beek instead.

Against Arsenal last weekend, he was accused of being largely anonymous, and fared little better against Basaksehir, which should give the club legend some cause for concern as he could be showing signs of a burn out. It’s worth pointing out that the £72m-rated ace has started every single game in the Premier League so far.

United have suffered back-to-back defeats and next face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday in a game which is surely a must-win for Solskjaer before the international break. However, it’s hard to imagine he will be given a rest anytime soon.

AND in other news, Woodward heading for major Man Utd mistake with Hakan Calhanoglu…

According to The Express, Liverpool are ready to reignite their interest in Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly this summer.

What’s the word?

Jurgen Klopp’s side were reported to be interested in the ace last year, but a deal failed to materialise before the end of the transfer window.

Now however, the Cherries’ relegation from the Premier League has opened up the team to a raid from some of the big-hitters in the top-flight, with Liverpool eyeing up a move for Kelly in particular.

Can you spot your Xabi Alonso from your Bruno Cheyrou? This Liverpool quiz will have you questioning your knowledge…



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The report claims that following Dejan Lovren’s departure to Zenit St Petersburg in recent days, Klopp is interested in bringing in a new centre-back to the club, with Kelly also being able to play at left-back too.

A masterstroke from Michael Edwards

Standing at 6 foot 3 and being left-footed, Kelly does inspire comparisons with former Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger, who played for the Reds 232 times.

The Cherries defender is comfortable with the ball at his feet – he averaged an 80.1% pass accuracy in the Premier League this season – and has the kind of mobility that marks him out as a potentially elite centre-back in the modern game.

After completing a deal to sign him for Bournemouth, Eddie Howe said: “Lloyd is an exciting talent and a player of real potential, while at the same time already possessing good experience for someone so young. He is athletic, versatile, physically excellent and has a very bright future ahead of him.”

Still only 21, and earning only a reported £30k-per-week, Kelly would slot in seamlessly as a rotation option in the Liverpool back-line, and as a left-footer, offers the Reds something completely different in the centre of their defence. Michael Edwards could pull off a masterstroke by finally landing him for the Merseyside club this summer.

According to an update courtesy of Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo via Sport Witness, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho ‘would be delighted’ to welcome back superstar Gareth Bale – but chairman Daniel Levy is only eyeing a bargain swoop and will not invest heavily in a dream reunion. 

Bale, who has been repeatedly linked with a return to north London this summer, especially following his well known unrest at Real Madrid, is now at the centre of Tottenham reports once again as Mundo Deportivo claim there is an interest.

Indeed, manager Mourinho allegedly wants him at Spurs, but the Portuguese boss faces a stumbling block when it comes to finances as the Tottenham board will not pay over the odds for his signature.

The 31-year-old, who is reportedly paid £350,000-per-week after tax, would have to take a wage cut to re-join the Lilywhites given Levy and co do not want to pay ‘anywhere near’ those figures in terms of salary.

Tottenham also want a cheap deal in terms of the actual fee, and Mundo Deportivo claim that they could be confident over making that happen.

Ex-Galacticos president Ramon Calderon recently claimed, in an exclusive with talkSPORT, that Real Madrid could very well let him go for free this summer in an attempt to remove him from the wage bill.

Currently valued at around £25.2 million by Transfermarkt, the termination of his contract could allow Spurs to open negotiations for free, but even then, Bale’s wages remain an obstacle.

Once hailed as ‘phenomenal’ by Zinedine Zidane, the Welshman faces an uncertain future over the twilight stages of his career, but only time will tell whether he does opt to make a Premier League return.

Lilywhites, are you keen on Gareth Bale returning to Spurs? Give us your thoughts in the comment section below…

Newcastle United have been offered the chance to sign Hirving Lozano on loan for free next term if the proposed takeover in the North East is eventually approved by the Premier League, according to Arena Napoli.

As per the outlet, the 24-year old has not exactly impressed since his big money move from PSV in Holland, as he has scored just four goals and made a mere two assists in 25 games in all competitions so far in the 2019/20 season for Napoli, according to Transfermarkt.

The Italian club’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis and their sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli would apparently not reject the idea of ​​a free loan for Lozano for the next campaign, with Everton and West Ham United having also been offered the chance to sign him in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The option to buy the Mexican international on a permanent basis is reportedly set at between 35 and 40 million euros, which equates to roughly between £31.6 million and £36.1 million.

Napoli have apparently received offers of around 20 million euros for Lozano from the Premier League as well as teams in La Liga, but it is not thought that this sum is enough to lure him away from Italy so soon after arriving.

Despite the winger’s arguable downfall so far this season, he did show why so much money was spent on him in the last campaign, as he netted a relatively impressive 21 times and provided 12 assists in 40 matches in all competitions in the Netherlands (via Transfermarkt).

To get a player with those kinds of stats for free, even for one campaign, may be a valuable piece of business for the Toon if the prospective takeover is completed.

Geordies, would Lozano be a good signing? Comment below!

Wolverhampton Wanderers came out as rather comfortable 3-0 winners in the Premier League against Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton yesterday thanks to goals from Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker either side of half-time before Diogo Jota sealed the win later on in the second half.

Despite the gorgeous attacking play at times as Wolves recorded 14 shots and had 55% possession, it was perhaps the display of Willy Boly at the back that went somewhat unnoticed, as he helped his side massively by making sure that the back door was locked for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.

The central defender won all six of his duels, while also making four interceptions, three clearances and three tackles, according to Sofascore.

Boly was not just a calming influence at the heart of the defence however, as he also managed to record an 88% passing success rate and play one key pass, which highlighted his qualities at starting off the attacking play.

The 29-year old has been a big part as to why Nuno’s team have conceded just 37 goals in the Premier League so far, with only Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City, Manchester United and Sheffield United conceding fewer (via the Premier League website).

Boly has played in 19 games in the top flight so far in the 2019/20 season and Wolves have only conceded 12 times and kept a rather impressive 11 clean sheets in those matches, as per Transfermarkt.

The Frenchman was an unsung hero not just against the Toffees but perhaps throughout the entire season for Wolves.

Wolves fans, does Boly get the credit that he deserves? Comment below with your views!

In what is already a relegation six-pointer, Southampton clash with Norwich City at St. Mary’s Stadium at 7:30pm on Wednesday evening.

The match, along with the nine other encounters from the 15th gameweek of the 2019/2020 Premier League season, will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime Video for subscribers in the UK.

Three points against fellow strugglers Watford on Saturday afternoon wasn’t enough to move Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints out of the relegation zone as they remain two points adrift of Everton in 17th.

Watch Southampton vs Norwich Live and Free on Amazon Prime

It did, however, give them hope of climbing away from the danger zone over the festive period and was only their third league victory of the campaign.

Norwich City’s last win came just over a week ago but to find their latest triumph in any competition before that, you would have to go back to the middle of September.

Daniel Farke’s men sit a single point behind their opponents in the table, although are unbeaten in two and travel 202 miles south west fresh from a respectable draw with Arsenal at Carrow Road on Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday’s hosts have one of the shortest injury lists in the English top flight as only Stuart Armstrong is on it – there’s little chance of him being fit to face the boys from Norfolk.

Whereas Alexander Tettey is in line to return for the Canaries after personal issues kept him out of the Gunners meeting, Timm Klose, Josip Drmic and Grant Hanley remain sidelined.

The last league match involving both Southampton and Norwich took place close to four years ago, though the sides did meet in an FA Cup tie during that gap.

It took a replay to decide, but the men from the south coast eventually progressed. Is that any indication of the way things will pan out this time around?

Amazon have purchased the rights to all of the Premiership games for this period and that of Boxing Day and the 27th December and if you’re in the UK, you can watch any of them absolutely free with Amazon Prime.

JOIN AMAZON PRIME ON 30 DAY TRIAL NOW

If you’re not already a member of Amazon Prime you can join immediately here on a 30 day free trial. Not only will you be able to watch any of the 20 fixtures they have the rights to but you’ll be able to get access to their one day delivery service which is very handy with Christmas coming up, plus any of their Prime output such as “Back of the Net” with Peter Crouch, the hit series “Vikings” and Series 2 of “Jack Ryan” amongst many others.

You don’t have long though if you want to get the first set of fixtures your side are playing in so be sure to sign up to your Amazon Prime here so you don’t miss out or click the below schedule to take you directly to the Amazon Prime Premiership page!

Another chapter of the rivalry between Crystal Palace and Brighton will be written on Monday evening when the two sides face off at Selhurst Park, with just three points separating them in the Premier League table.

The Eagles have enjoyed an impressive campaign so far, winning six and drawing four of their 16 league outings while keeping an eye-catching six clean sheets – more than most teams in England’s top-flight have managed so far.

In Brighton’s case, the Seagulls have also been in good form, maintaining a performance level that has seen Graham Potter rewarded with a two-year contract extension just six months after being appointed as manager.

However, while the south Londoners go into this game as slight favourites in terms of league standing, Hodgson has a number of injury problems to deal with.

Jeffrey Schlupp and Joel Ward are definite absentees, while Patrick van Aanholt is also a doubt – Mamadou Sakho is suspended after picking up a red card against Bournemouth.

As a result, here’s the XI we think the former England manager should deploy on Monday evening…

We think that the 72-year-old should make one change from the XI that started against Watford, bringing in Jairo Riedewald for the injured Jeffrey Schlupp.

The former Ajax man came off the bench against the Hornets at half-time to replace the Ghanaian, and proceeded to deliver a decent cameo appearance which impressed these Palace fans on Twitter.

Riedewald – a Netherlands international – hasn’t started a Premier League game for nearly two years since a 1-0 loss to Tottenham on the 25th February 2018. The fact that Aaron Wan-Bissaka – a man who has since made a name for himself and left Selhurst Park – made his club debut in that game is telling.

Other than that, we would make no other changes from the 0-0 draw against Watford.

That means there is no place for Max Meyer – who Bild report is becoming frustrated under Hodgson – as well as Christian Benteke, who is still yet to score a goal this season.

Germany international Meyer has started just two Premier League games this term, and doesn’t seem like he would be able to get into the game amongst a packed midfield consisting of physical performers such as Davy Propper, Luka Milivojevic and Cheikhou Kouyate due to his 5 foot 8 frame.

In terms of Benteke, Jordan Ayew has scored four goals this term while impressing with his committed work rate levels, so there is no reason to drop him.

In other news, this Crystal Palace target was his side’s biggest goal threat against Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday…

Sheffield Wednesday succumbed to defeat on their return to Championship action following the international break on Saturday afternoon.

Garry Monk’s side were defeated 2-1 by league leaders West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns, meaning it is now a run of four straight matches without a victory.

The Owls were consigned to a loss in the 88th minute when substitute Charlie Austin dispatched a spot-kick, handing the home side all three points.

Wednesday must have thought they were on track for at least a share of the points after Steven Fletcher scored a penalty of his own just before the hour mark as the strike cancelled out Hal Robson-Kanu’s tenth-minute opener.

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To make matters worse, Liam Palmer, one of two players called up to national team duty over the last two weeks, saw red in the game’s dying moments for a nasty challenge on Grady Diangana.

For much of the travelling support, this was the icing on the cake as his performance was far from impressive.

One supporter was so angry that he claimed the long-serving 28-year-old must have cost the club over 100 points during his Wednesday career while another brandished his defending as ‘non-league stuff.’

Others described Palmer as ‘horrific,’ ‘pathetic’ and as a ‘liability’ with a further member of the Hillsborough faithful hoping it is the last time he sees the right-back.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

It’s been almost two weeks since Jose Mourinho was appointed as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager and even though we’ve seen him in action already, we are yet to see what kind of moves he will make – if any – in the upcoming transfer window.

Of course, since he is quite a big name himself, it wouldn’t be a stretch to presume Spurs could go in for someone who fits Mourinho’s profile. But now, after his recent verdict for Sport TV (quoted by Metro), we know that Bruno Fernandes won’t be that someone:

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

“We are not a club that is going to make big transfers in the market, nor is it going towards players who are already developed or at a certain level of expectation, also economically. I would definitely say no because Bruno (Fernandes) is a player of a level and value that is not for us.”

And upon seeing that update, many fans were a bit worried because it gave the impression of a “small club mentality” and they seem to believe this has Daniel Levy written all over it.

Of course, those fans were referencing the fact that Spurs are traditionally a club that rarely spend big money, courtesy of their ownership and more specifically, Levy himself.

They did, however, break the bank during the summer with a number of signings, including the record-breaking arrival of Tanguy Ndombele, who is now the most expensive acquisition in the history of the club.

Money talks: How much did Levy pay for each of these Spurs stars?

But that is not the only way fans are looking at Mourinho’s verdict on Fernandes. The player has recently signed a brand new contract which could potentially make him a much less attainable target in the first place, but some fans think this is just a diversion and that the player is already theirs and Mourinho is playing mind games.

Finally, there were some other fans who simply don’t feel Fernandes is a necessity at this point in time and they would rather improve their defence instead. And seeing how they have conceded six goals in Mourinho’s first three games in charge, maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Not to mention that both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Verthonghen haven’t signed their contracts yet and Spurs risk losing them for free in the not so distant future. For those reasons, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go for someone to reinforce the backline instead.

These fans clearly seem to think so…

Elsewhere, Liverpool might have dodged a bullet by missing out on a La Liga star that ended up in Barcelona’s jaws…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Sheffield Wednesday go into today’s game occupying a playoff spot in fifth position as they look to continue their hot streak under Garry Monk.

The Owls have lost just one game since the 40-year-old took charge at the start of September, going on to pick up 14 points from a possible 24.

Watch Sheffield Wednesday Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

That’s pretty good going considering the position they find themselves in and the fact that Monk inherited this squad from his previous incumbents Steve Bruce and caretaker boss Lee Bullen.

But now he faces a dreaded dilemma over team selection.

On the Chalkboard

Club captain Tom Lees returned from injury this week and took a full part in training, meaning he should be available for the trip across the Lancashire border to Blackburn Rovers.

In his absence, Wednesday have kept four clean sheets in eight matches, so will the 28-year-old even earn an instant recall to the starting line up?

It remains to be seen whether or not Julian Borner earns his place back having withdrawn late in the warm-up against Leeds United last time out, so there is an argument to be made on why Lees should return in that sense.

But Sam Hutchinson stepped up to the plate superbly, as shown by this article here, so he has every chance of keeping his place at centre-back.

There’s also Dominic Iorfa, who has become a solid option in the heart of the defence, which fans seem to agree with having praised his performances on more than one occasion this season.

Monk doesn’t exactly need to change things up in his backline as they have kept two clean sheets in their last three matches.

But the return of his influential skipper gives him plenty of food for thought going into this game.

Hutchinson (2.1) and Iorfa (1.8) both have averaged more tackles per game than the former England U21 international (0.8) while Borner outscores him for both clearances (4.5) and interceptions (1.5) per game, via WhoScored.