Wolves: Tim Spiers slams Trincao v West Ham

Tim Spiers has slammed the performance of Francisco Trincao as Wolves faced West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League this afternoon.

The Lowdown: No cutting edge

The visitors enjoyed plenty of possession in east London, but as of when Trincao was subbed off after an hour, they had not recorded a single shot on target.

The Irons continued to penetrate until they eventually found the breakthrough just before the substitution was made, with Tomas Soucek tapping home from a Michail Antonio cutback.

The Latest: Trincao slammed by Spiers

Taking to Twitter, The Athletic journalist Spiers slammed Trincao’s performance, suggesting that the Wolves forward was largely anonymous in the match.

The writer fumed: “Only time I’ve mentioned Trincao so far is for the team news.”

The Verdict: Poor

Trincao, who has not really been able to get his Molineux career going with no goals or assists in the top flight so far this season, was pretty poor once again in an Old Gold shirt against West Ham.

The Portugal international lost out on three of his duels and also failed to record a key pass, while he was guilty of losing possession nine times (SofaScore).

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Having recorded fewer touches than his own goalkeeper Jose Sa, Trincao certainly made little impact on the game; and with both Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto on the bench, the 22-year-old winger may feel as if his place in the starting XI is now under threat.

In other news, find out what ‘big’ news has now come out of Molineux

Preview: West Ham vs Southampton

David Moyes’ West Ham United side head into tonight’s FA Cup clash with Southampton on the back of a much-needed win, with the Hammers’ defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Sunday – a result which saw their push for a top-four finish get well and truly back on track.

However, with a challenging fixture against Liverpool coming up this weekend, as well as the extremely tough task of visiting Sevilla in the Europa League round of 16 next week, it would not be surprising to see the Scot field a heavily rotated side at St. Mary’s.

So, how many changes will Moyes make to the team that started the victory over Wolves last weekend? Here’s how we think West Ham could line up against Saints, as well as the latest team and injury news…

With David Moyes recently revealing that he has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to the South Coast – although Vladimir Coufal, Ryan Fredericks, Arthur Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna remain sidelined, while Andriy Yarmolenko is also a doubt – we predict that Moyes will make seven changes to the side that lined up against Wolves on Sunday.

The first of these changes comes between the sticks, with the £138k-per-week Alphonse Areola – who Peter Drury one dubbed “remarkable” – taking the place of Lukasz Fabianski, as has typically been the case in cup competitions this season.

In defence, Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson start at left and right-back respectively, while 21-year-old Aji Alese – dubbed “gold dust” by Tom Edwards – is handed a rare start alongside Issa Diop at centre-back.

In midfield, Mark Noble comes in alongside Declan Rice in the middle of the park, while Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini make way for Nikola Vlasic and Said Benrahma on the left and in the number 10 role, with Jarrod Bowen starting on the right.

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Up top, promising 18-year-old centre-forward Sonny Perkins is handed just his second senior start of the campaign, while Michail Antonio is handed a well-earned break amongst the substitutes.

In other news: £14.5m wasted: Pellegrini’s £75k-p/w “shocker” has been rinsing West Ham for 191 weeks

Spurs XI, team news vs Middlesbrough

Antonio Conte must decide whether to freshen things up or stick with the Tottenham Hotspur side that romped to victory at the weekend when his side face Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round this evening.

Spurs thrashed Leeds United 4-0 on Saturday, a result which saw Marcelo Bielsa sacked from his position, whilst it’s still four defeats in six outings for the Italian head coach.

This competition provides one final chance of silverware in his maiden season at the club, having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup and the Europa Conference League.

And there’s still a place inside the Premier League’s top four up for grabs, too.

It will certainly be interesting to see what sort of lineup he’ll opt for up in the northeast, here’s what we are predicting ahead of kickoff…

There could be four changes from the weekend as Conte looks for fresh legs without losing their quality.

The 52-year-old is never one to change goalkeeper, regardless of the competition, so skipper Hugo Lloris remains between the sticks but there are two alterations to the back three in front of him.

In come Joe Rodon and Davinson Sanchez to partner Ben Davies. They will hand Eric Dier and Cristian Romero a much-needed rest as they have only recently returned from their respective injuries.

Conte will need them for the remainder of the season, so he may not want to risk them.

A resurgent Matt Doherty keeps his spot over Emerson at right wing-back, whilst the third change sees Sergio Reguilon return to the side after missing five of the last six Premier League outings.

Ryan Sessegnon has deputised well but the 25-year-old Spaniard is the first choice and desperately needs some minutes under his belt.

In midfield, due to the lack of alternatives, both Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Winks are expected to remain with the likes of deadline day signing Rodrigo Bentancur and Oliver Skipp still absent through injury.

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The fourth and final switch could be in the attack as Steven Bergwijn is gifted a rare start, taking the place of another January addition in Dejan Kulusevski, who has made an instant impact at Spurs.

He could be rested, so the Dutch international joins Heung-min Son and Harry Kane in the attack, where Conte will undoubtedly be wanting them to make a quick mark before being withdrawn early on.

AND in other news, Conte could unearth Tottenham’s next Skipp in 20 y/o terrier once dubbed a “coach’s dream”…

Newcastle had a shocker with Tavernier

Newcastle United’s academy has produced some fine players for the first-team over the years, including current midfielder Sean Longstaff.

In addition, the likes of Steven Taylor, Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi all played for the Magpies after coming through the youth ranks.

However, not every player who has had a successful career after playing in the academy in Tyneside managed to make it whilst they were at Newcastle.

Big blunder

One player with whom the club had a shocker was right-back James Tavernier, who has exploded since leaving the club as a youngster.

Transfermarkt claim that he joined Wigan for a meagre fee of £90k in the summer of 2014. He spent one year with the Latics before signing for Scottish giants Rangers, where he was valued at £315k during his first season at Ibrox.

Over the subsequent six-and-a-half years, the 6 foot machine has racked up 330 competitive appearances for the Light Blues in all competitions. He has scored a whopping 75 goals and provided 104 assists for the club, all whilst playing at right-back.

This shows that he has come on leaps and bounds since he was initially valued at £90k by the Newcastle board. He has been consistently superb for the Scottish champions over the course of a number of years, as shown by his statistics, and he has earned plenty of acclaim along the way.

Former Gers head coach and Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard previously heaped praise on the defender, saying: “I think Tav is someone who, when he goes through the gears, is unstoppable, and we have seen that, or flashes of that so far this season. I think he is really close to being at his best.”

“Tav is a huge player. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves I don’t think from our own supporters or the credit he deserves from outside.

“I think he needs to go and win something as a captain and a leader to really get the credit he deserves, but to see him on a daily basis, I am certainly someone who really appreciates him for us.”

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At the time of writing (09/03/2022), Transfermarkt value Tavernier at £6.3m. This is a sensational 6,900% increase on the £90k for which he reportedly departed the Magpies back in 2014.

Therefore, the Toon missed out on a major payday in comparison to what they got for selling him to Wigan, whilst also missing out on his talents at right-back. His ability to score and set up goals on a regular basis could have been useful for Newcastle over the years.

Instead, they got a mere £90k and Rangers ended up with a brilliant player further down the line, which is why the Tyneside club had a shocker with this particular academy product.

AND in other news, Forget Trippier: Ashworth can seal instant NUFC masterclass with “promising” £17m gem…

Tim Spiers praises ‘unbelievable’ Trincao

Wolves winger Francisco Trincao produced an ‘unbelievable’ performance in the 3-2 defeat to Leeds United, according to journalist Tim Spiers.

The Lowdown: Wolves suffer damaging defeat

Wanderers were strong favourites to beat their relegation-threatened opponents on Friday night, but a crazy match unfolded at Molineux.

Leeds came from 2-0 down to secure a massive victory in their battle to stay in the Premier League, as Wolves’ top-four hopes all but evaporated.

It was Trincao who arguably stood out as his team’s best player on the night, being introduced as a first half substitute and setting up Jonny’s opening goal, later finding the net himself just before half-time.

The Latest: Spiers lauds Trincao’s impact

Taking to Twitter during the match, Spiers was full of praise for the on-loan Wolves youngster, saying:

“Crazy half of football. Leeds started on fire but the first of many injuries disrupted their flow and Wolves dominated thereafter, taking advantage of a seriously disjointed system and finding gaps everywhere. Moutinho so good for both goals. And Trincao! Unbelievable.”

[freshpress-quiz id=“388797″]

The Verdict: One positive to take for Wolves

It was a hugely damaging result from a Wolves perspective, but while some individuals fell short of their best form, Trincao was an undoubted positive for Bruno Lage to take.

Incredibly, this was the 22-year-old’s first goal and assist in the league this season, which says a lot about his lack of end product throughout the campaign.

However, this performance suggested that he could be a key player between now and the end of the season as he seemed to almost come of age in a Wolves shirt, looking dangerous with the ball at his feet and showing genuine substance in his game.

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Aside from his goal and assist, he had three shots on target, struck the woodwork, made three tackles, won six duels and created two chances (Sofascore), so hopefully he can build upon this all-round excellent performance.

In other news, Wolves has been given a boost regarding one player. Read more here.

West Ham: Hammers want Lewis-Potter

According to a report from the Daily Mail, West Ham are among the clubs interested in signing Hull City forward Keane Lewis-Potter. 

The lowdown: Gaining attention

Called up to the England Under-21s for the first time this week, Lewis-Potter has rightly garnered appreciation following a rapid rise to prominence in the Championship.

Starting in all 39 of the Tigers’ league matches so far this season, the 20-year-old has earned a respectable 6.87 average rating whilst averaging 2.2 shots per game (Sofascore), finding the back of the net eight times in total.

Unsurprisingly, that form has led to huge interest in the exciting winger from the top-flight.

The latest: London calling?

According to the report, the Hammers, alongside Tottenham, are keen on signing the starlet.

It’s claimed that Brentford were ‘close’ to landing Lewis-Potter in January but now the exciting ace is ‘attracting attention’ from elsewhere.

Furthermore, the report states that a fee of ‘more than £12million’ was in place to sign the Hull academy graduate.

The verdict: A clear pathway

Having already signed and subsequently progressed the career of Jarrod Bowen from Hull, there is a clear drawn out career path for Lewis-Potter to follow in east London.

And, with Bowen already being linked with a move away from West Ham, such is the extend of his success, David Moyes could be on the lookout for a replacement for the 25-year-old in the not too distant future.

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Billed as a ‘special talent’ and compared to Arsenal legend Marc Overmans by manager Shota Arveladze, Lewis-Potter would be the ideal candidate to either further boost the Irons’ squad or indeed succeed Bowen.

In other news: Injury expert makes ‘nightmare’ West Ham.

Crystal Palace: Vieira must keep Zaha

Crystal Palace must do all they can to keep Wilfried Zaha at Selhurst Park in the summer with the £36m rated gem a potential target for top clubs.

What’s the story?

Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has urged his former club to sign Zaha insisting he is ‘a better player now’ than when they tried to previously sign him back in 2019.

The 29-year old winger who was dubbed “electric” by GOAL was a target for the Gunners during Unai Emery’s reign, but Arsenal’s £40m bid was not enough to persuade the South London club to sell.

He even handed in a transfer request at the time to try and force a move through but he ended up staying at Selhurst Park.

With his contract expiring next summer, now could be the time for Arsenal to get him at a reduced price.

Zaha is vital for Vieira

As a result of standing their ground, Palace have reaped the rewards with Zaha proving to be a star player since.

The Ivory Coast international is the Eagles’ top scorer this season with ten goals and has been key to manager Vieira’s positive start at the club.

However, it’s not just goal scoring that Palace rely on – Zaha ranks in the 90th percentile for passes into the penalty area when compared to other wingers in Europe’s big five leagues this season.

He also ranks the highest in the Palace squad when it comes to passes that lead to a shot attempt at 51 so far this campaign, proving his distribution and playmaking is simply crucial.

Despite these contributions, his manager still believes he has “potential to fulfil” and called on him to show more consistency.

There’s no doubting that’s a challenge that Zaha will relish with him saying that he feels like he “performs better” when he’s under the added pressure.

Seeing him attract interest from several big clubs isn’t a new thing. During his first stint with the Eagles, he was targeted by then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

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He made the move to Old Trafford in 2013 for £10.5m just after the Scottish manager retired, but it didn’t quite work out for him during a period where United declined.

Zaha made only 14 Premier League appearances for the Red Devils and didn’t score once before he eventually moved back to Palace in 2015 for a fraction of the price (£3.4m)

His value has once again soared, but if Palace are to continue thriving under Vieira they may need him to stick around for longer. Anything less would be seen as a disaster for Steve Parish and co.

IN other news: Sold for £25m, now worth just £608k: CPFC struck gold on dazzling 32 y/0 – opinion.

Celtic: Report drops worrying Jota update

Celtic have been dealt a potential blow in their bid to seal the permanent signing of Jota.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Scotsman, who claim that, despite Ange Postecoglou’s side possessing a £6m option to buy clause in the Portugal U21 international’s temporary contract at Parkhead, the winger’s representatives have sought to keep the 23-year-old’s options open ahead of the summer transfer window.

The report goes on to state that the Benfica loanee has refused to comment on whether or not he would be keen on a permanent switch to Celtic at the end of the current campaign, as well as claiming that the Bhoys’ clause for the forward is only relevant should the player himself agree to a move.

In summary, The Scotsman state: “There may be nothing Celtic can present to him that would make him stay.”

Unforgivable error

Considering just how impressive Jota has been for Celtic since his temporary switch to Parkhead last summer, the argument that failing to secure the forward’s permanent signing this summer would be a disaster for Postecoglou is a rather easy one to make.

Indeed, over his 22 Premiership appearances this season, the £4.95m-rated winger has been in breathtaking form for the Hoops, scoring seven goals, registering seven assists and creating nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.7 shots and making two key passes per game.

These returns have seen the £18.5k-per-week sensation average a quite exceptional SofaScore match rating of 7.50, ranking him as the fourth-best player in the top flight of Scottish football.

The Portuguese youth international has also highly impressed over his ten appearances in both domestic and European cup competitions, bagging a further three goals and three assists – taking his total haul for the season to 10 goals and 10 assists over 36 fixtures.

As such, it is clear for all to see that Postecoglou simply must do all he can to convince Jota of a full-time switch to Glasgow this summer, as the signing of the 23-year-old would not only provide Celtic with an incredibly gifted player next season and beyond, it would also secure the club an extremely sellable asset.

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And, with the bonus of automatic qualification to the Champions League group stage being on offer for the champions of the Premiership this season – something that are Celtic currently in a strong position to go on and secure – it would be something of an unforgivable error on the part of the club if they were to miss out on Jota’s signing this summer.

AND in other news: Signed for £540k, sold for 8 figures: Celtic struck gold on 23 y/o “Roy of the Rovers”

Tottenham exploring stunning move for “unbelievable” £59m Semenyo alternative

Tottenham Hotspur are now exploring a stunning move for an “unbelievable” Premier League forward, as an alternative to AFC Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo.

Spurs eyeing new forward as Semenyo alternative

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Spurs are very keen on signing Semenyo, who has already scored eight league goals this season, with the transfer expert saying: “Tottenham have genuine and strong interest and are being very aggressive. But the final decision will depend on the player.”

However, it could be difficult to get a deal for the Ghanaian over the line, given that he is attracting interest from a number of top clubs, with Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal also being named as potential suitors.

Such is their level of interest, Tottenham have already held talks to sign the forward, but it remains to be seen whether they are able to lure him to north London, given that they are not enjoying the best of campaigns.

Following the 2-1 loss against Liverpool on Saturday, the north Londoners sit 13th in the Premier League table, which means the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium may not be the most attractive of destinations.

As such, alternatives to the Bournemouth star are now being identified, with a report from TEAMtalk revealing they are now exploring a stunning move for Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush, who arrived at the Etihad Stadium for £59m back in January.

Marmoush’s game time has been very limited this season, which means he could be open to a move away, although Pep Guardiola is hesitant to sanction a departure, as the manager is keen to have strength in depth, given the busy fixture list.

With Semenyo making a move to Spurs deemed ‘increasingly unlikely’, amid rival interest, Thomas Frank has started to scour the market for other forwards, and there are indications the City ace could be an excellent addition to the Dane’s squad…

Tottenham set ridiculous Micky van de Ven price as Real Madrid plot January move

It wouldn’t be enough to buy his left foot.

1 ByEmilio Galantini "Unbelievable" Marmoush could flourish at Tottenham

The 26-year-old has found it difficult to force his way into Guardiola’s plans, so it may be wise to move on this January, and his goal and assist record for Eintracht Frankfurt suggests he could flourish at Tottenham.

Season

Appearances (all competitions)

Goal involvements

2023-24

41

23

2024-25

26

34

The former Frankfurt man also put in some eye-catching performances during his first season with City, amassing seven goals and two assists in 16 Premier League outings.

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One of those goals was particularly impressive, with the Egyptian scooping up the Goal of the Season award courtesy of a remarkable strike against AFC Bournemouth.

Lauded as “unbelievable” by Guardiola, Marmoush could be a fantastic signing for Tottenham, and if they are unable to get their hands on Semenyo, they should definitely make a move for the Man City ace.

A summer cull would bring in millions for Sir Alex

After failing to win a fourth successive Premier League title or anything else of note at Old Trafford this past season attentions have once again been focused on ownership issues, protests and underperforming stars, is it time that Sir Alex Ferguson oversaw a summer clean up at Manchester United?

David Gill, Manchester United chief executive, had previously told the Green and Gold movement to stop moaning as the club have £95million to spend this summer. However, BBC News recently revealed that the Red Devils’ owners the Glazer family are £1.1billion in debt – £400million that had previously been thought – after borrowing extensively against their shopping mall business, as well as their NFL franchise the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So, with the ownership issue rumbling on and showing no signing of coming to a happy conclusion for the United fans Sir Alex may opt to sell in order to bring in funds to refresh the squad as they have many saleable assets.

Probably their most saleable asset who they could probably live without is former Tottenham player Dimitar Berbatov. The 29-year-old is a talented and misunderstood player, but it just has not happened for him at Old Trafford. It may be better for all parties concerned to sell the player as another season being labelled as a ‘flop’ would make his stock fall further. His goal scoring record has not been terrible at Manchester United (14 in 43 games in 2008/09 and 12 in 43 games in 2009/10), but it isn’t great and a lot less than the Old Trafford faithful were expecting from a player who cost the club over £30m in transfer fees. It’s rumoured that AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and Juventus are interested in the player and it wouldn’t be a bad shout for Tottenham to go back in for him as they search for a front man.

Another Red Devil who could be sold to raise funds is also an ex-Tottenham player Michael Carrick, 28, who has been warming the bench for much of the last Premier League campaign, so it was a surprise for some when he managed to find himself in England’s World Cup squad ahead of Tom Huddlestone, who hasn’t got the experience but is the better player in my opinion.

According to chief exec Gill the midfielder cost the club £14m, which had various clauses attached to it which could have risen to £18.6m…I doubt they will get their money back there.

Manchester United also paid over the odds (reportedly around £17m) for young Brazilian midfielder Anderson. The 22-year-old has become something of a misfit at Old Trafford and perhaps it is time that he was sold on. I don’t doubt that he is a promising young player, but he was bought as an attacking midfielder and has mostly been deployed in a deep role…much in the same way many argue Jon Obi Mikel has been played out of position at Chelsea.

After the Premier League champions have let the likes of Joe Cole (a Red Devil’s target), Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti go out the door, with Deco and Paulo Ferreira also likely leaving the club they will undoubtedly seek to strengthen their squad, which could make the need for United to have a team shake up a must.

With cash raised from sales it could go some way to pay for their reported targets such as Lassana Diarra, Karim Benzema, Luis Suarez and David Silva. Their need to freshen up the squad is made all the more important as they have many old players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and the very much injury prone players Michael Owen, Owen Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand.

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