Manchester United ensured there would be no fairytale final victory for Arsene Wenger at Old Trafford on Sunday with a 2-1 over the departing manager’s Arsenal in the English Premier League.
Taking the lead through Paul Pogba, Man United looked like dropping points after former player Henrikh Mkhitraryan equalised shortly after half-time, however substitute Marouane Fellaini saved the day with a stoppage time winner.
The three points strengthen United’s grip on second place in the table after Liverpool could only draw on Saturday.
Fellaini’s header has now re-ignited the debate on whether the Red Devils should tie him down to a new contract, with the player’s current deal due to expire at the end of the season.
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While many fans are against such a deal, plenty of supporters have taken to social media in the wake of his winner to plead that the club get a new contract over the line, believing he’s an excellent plan B when things aren’t going well for Mourinho’s side.
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They took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the situation…
Manchester United’s wonderkid of last season is not quite making the cut under Louis Van Gaal this term.
Adnan Janazaj is severely struggling to hold down a first team spot, and he failed to make a real impact in his last outing, which was an appearance off the bench in United’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea two weekends ago. When the starlet was linked to a loan move away from Old Trafford in January it was quickly shot down, and it was believed the Belgian would play a more important role in the side after all.
But, as Louis Van Gaal chopped and changed his starting eleven and formation, Adnan Januzaj could not make himself undroppable, unlike his fellow countryman Marouane Fellaini. The odds are stacked against him, and now it is time for Januzaj to go out on loan.
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Despite Van Gaal publicly insisting Januzaj would not be leaving United on loan, the 20 year old has not made the same impression on his new boss as he did the last. It now seems more like Van Gaal was playing it safe by keeping Januzaj at Old Trafford in January, in case of injuries.
A loan move this summer would be perfect for the Belgium international. All focus seems to be on adding to the squad; undoubtedly making it even harder to Januzaj to make his mark. If he isn’t going to be playing regular, first team football at this stage in his career, is it worth it? Staying at a club that doesn’t really need him could end up hindering him in the long run.
So Januzaj needs to get his options on the table in order to help himself. He’s still a young player and is making mistakes that can be worked out if he played more regularly. Most importantly, his incessant need to ‘showboat.’ He does not have to be Cristiano Ronaldo and show his tricks, when he can just play football.
A move to Europe would be ideal, to gain some perspective and a new footballing experience in another league. At the beginning of the year, Paris Saint Germain were rumoured to be in the running for the Belgian’s signature.
Once David Moyes catches wind of a potential loan deal for the 20-year-old, he will of course put his name forward to bring him to Real Sociedad. It will be just another reason for Moyes to talk about his time at Old Trafford.
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A year away from the side will do Januzaj the world of good if he can become a regular starter. He will be much more valuable after a loan move, when he will be more confident and experienced – thus more of an asset to Manchester United.
Gareth Bale’s potential exit from Tottenham Hotspur hasn’t been so much the elephant in the room at White Hart Lane this season, more something resembling a gorilla in a doll’s house.
And following Andre Villas-Boas’ recent confession that much of the Welshman’s future now hangs on whether the club can attain Champions League qualification for next season, that gorilla has now morphed into a figure of King Kong like proportions in N17.
Certainly, if the proverbial head was buried in the sand before last week, then the reality that surrounds Bale’s future is now somewhat unavoidable.
For all intents and purposes, Villas-Boas’ recent admission that the ‘information’ he’d received about Bale’s future, was only confirming what many Spurs fans had suspected for some time now; the only difference now being that fans have received something along the lines of the first official acknowledgement from the club’s hierarchy.
And while the general picture painted in Fleet Street is that of a set of supporters loosing countless nights sleep over the matter, the truth is that Spurs fans take a far more pragmatic view upon Bale’s protracted departure then many might think.
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Even if he does stay for another campaign in N17, the feeling is that it’s a matter of when, as opposed to if the former-Southampton starlet leaves the club. For as much as supporters love their club, they know they can never offer Bale the grandeur that comes with playing for a Real Madrid or a Bayern Munich – should he continue his development at the rate he’s going at the moment, that is surely a level which the Welshman is destined to progress onto.
Yet while fans may be resigned to Bale’s eventual departure, no one connected with the club wants to loose his eclectic talents before they have to and should he waltz off into the sunset following yet another failure to attain Champions League football, his potential departure will feel wholly premature.
With Spurs’ destiny this season still very much hanging in the balance, while Villas-Boas’ side could quite easily still qualify for the Champions League, the stark reality of failing to do so for yet another season is one that the club are going to have to face up to.
And if Villas-Boas’ recent statement is to be taken at face value, then such a failure will bring with it some serious ramification for Bale’s future. But should the Welshman leave at the end of the season, what’s really the worst-case scenario for Spurs?
Clearly, for however you wish to frame it, Spurs are going to be severely weakened by the loss of what is not only their finest footballer, but also their most potent goal threat by quite some distance. For whatever the financial compensation – be it £40million, £50million or even £60million plus – even if you shelve Bale’s box-office and enduring stardust, Andre Villas-Boas’ side will be set to loose 24 goals from what is a side that is already dreadfully anemic in attack.
But should the club’s hand be forced and Bale seek an exit route this summer, any possible framework to a deal should be based upon ensuring Spurs aren’t just compensated well from a financial point of view, but ultimately a sporting one, too.
And the emphasis must be for the club to replace the goalscoring prowess that the Welshman has almost single handedly carried this term, as opposed to getting too obsessed with trying to replace his star power.
There is a feeling that should Spurs hit the jackpot for their prized asset, for all the financial rewards that the 23-year-old might net the club, the chances are that not every single penny is likely to filter through to the first-team squad, such is the need to revaluate the finances in light of the Northumberland Development Project. But should Bale go to what many expect to be his most likely transfer destination in Real Madrid that might not necessarily be a problem.
With a price tag of £60million, first and foremost, even if not all the funds were eventually ploughed into the transfer kitty, Spurs would be able to acquire a couple of genuinely top-class players should Madrid or anyone else be willing to front up cash.
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But with the Spanish club rumoured to be willing to use one of Gonzalo Higuain or even the vaulted Angel Di Maria to make a deal stick, Spurs would be wise to consider all options before simply demanding a straight up cash deal.
Because while the focus so often in a box-office transfer is one fixated upon the notion of a price tag, Tottenham can’t get too caught up in the prospect of breaking records and squeezing pennies out of the deal if there is the opportunity to seize an instant fix to the amount of goals they’d be shedding should they sell Bale.
If the opportunity to seize Higuain is a realistic option, then Spurs would be foolish to not demand the Argentine be part of any deal that sees Bale move to the Santiago Bernabeu. With over 100 goals scored for one of the best sides in the world, experience in winning titles and playing in the Champions League and still only 25, Higuain is the perfect player to fill the goalscoring hole that Bale would leave in this side.
Is he the same sort of player as Bale? Of course not, but even if Spurs do go looking for a direct replacement for him, they’re not going to find it. The emphasis on any deal that sees the Welshman leave must be on replacing the goals that he’s scored – not the star power.
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West Ham fans have been discussing their goalscoring woes, and plenty have come to the same conclusion – sign the charismatic, fantastically bizarre enigma that is Mario Balotelli.
At this point, it’s pretty clear that Javier Hernandez probably does not have a future at West Ham.
The Mexican striker certainly knows where the goal is, but so long as David Moyes is in charge he is clearly not the first choice.
With that in mind, fans have been debating who should play up front next season, hoping a new signing can fire the Hammers back up the table next year.
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Marko Arnautovic has excelled as a central striker, but the thought of the Austrian superstar and Manuel Lanzini playing off a truly top striker is an exciting prospect.
Nice’s Alassane Pléa is one name that has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs, but his teammate Mario Balotelli could be available on a free transfer this summer, and fans seem rather confident the Italian could find form in London.
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Other fans are focusing their attention within the Premier League, looking at players that could be seeking new homes this summer, like Liverpool outcast Divock Origi.
Still, there is a remarkable amount of fans that seem to think signing Balotelli would be a good idea, and some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
West Ham United and manager Sam Allardyce have always been somewhat of an unholy alliance.
The 60 year-old has guided the East Londoners from the English second tier to the top half of the Premier League – this term in contention for an impressive eighth place finish. But the persistent grumblings from many sectors of the Upton Park support regarding the attritional, direct and often boring Allardyce philosophy have created a rather volatile working environment during the last 18 months.
The former Bolton, Blackburn and Newcastle gaffer’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and perhaps bearing their move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016 in mind, it appears the West Ham board are reluctant to renew his current deal.
So being the ever-helpful bunch we are at Football Fancast, we’ve listed FIVE managers who could realistically succeed Big Sam this summer. Will one of these lads be donning the Upton Park dugout next season?
HARRY REDKNAPP
Harry Redknapp limped away from relegation-bound QPR upon the close of the January window with a rather disappointing win rate of just 19% in the Premier League, but many at Upton Park still have a soft spot for their former manager.
After all, the 67 year-old represented West Ham over 175 times as a player, and during the 1998/99 season guided them to their highest league standing of the Premier League era, a more than respectable 5th.
Redknapp’s also enjoyed successful spells with Bournemouth, claiming the Division Three title in 1987, Portsmouth, where he lifted the FA Cup in 2008, Tottenham, whom he guided to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2010, and was once in line to succeed the England job from Fabio Capello, before the FA turned to Roy Hodgson.
The former midfielder’s greatest gift remains his shrewdness in the transfer market, but over the last few years at QPR, the tactical side of his game has looked worryingly outdated.
SLAVEN BILIC
Forever linked with a return to his former club, it seems inevitable ex-Hammer Slaven Bilic will take to the West Ham dugout at some point in his management career.
The 46 year-old is currently in charge of Besiktas, for whom he boasts an impressive win rate of 54% since his appointment in June 2013, recently masterminding the Turkish outfit’s way past Liverpool in the knock-out stages of the Europa League.
Admittedly, he lacks experience in Europe’s leading top flights, but Bilic’s reputation is built upon his successes with the Croatian national team; in 2008, he eliminated Steve McLaren’s England from the qualifying rounds of the European Championships and many of his players subsequently went on to have impressive careers in the Premier League, namely Eduado, Verdan Corluka and Luka Modric.
Bilic left the international scene in 2010 with a win rate of 65%, and in addition to that impressive return, has developed the repute of a particularly passionate, hardworking manager.
NEIL LENNON
Neil Lennon may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but his incredible successes at Celtic cannot be ignored.
After representing the Hoops over 214 times as a player, the northern Irishman lead them to three consecutive SPL titles and masterminded a historic victory over Barcleona at Celtic Park during the 2012/13 Champions League season – poignantly just one day after the club’s 125th anniversary.
Most impressively, the 43 year-old achieved it all with a squad ever-diminishing in quality, demonstrating his ability to add huge value to low-cost players in a short space of time.
Unable to find work in the Premier League, Lennon was forced to search for Championship employment after leaving the Scottish champions last summer. He took over a bottom-place Bolton Wanderers last October and has since guided them to 17th – an impressive ten points clear of the relegation zone.
With superior resources and quality of player, the former midfielder could uproot trees in East London. At this point in his career however, despite some huge successes in Europe, the West Ham board might view Lennon as too much of a gamble.
EDDIE HOWE
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A new manager for a new era at West Ham, Eddie Howe could be the man to propel the East London club towards the level of success the Olympic Stadium deserves.
Admittedly, he’s completely untested in the Premier League, but in the space of seven years has guided Bournemouth from rock bottom of the Football League to the top of the Championship, claiming a win rate of 51%.
Still just 37 years of age and renowned for his insistence upon stylish, attacking football, Howe’s become easily the hottest management prospect England has to offer over the last few years.
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It’ll be a real sink-or-swim test for him at West Ham however, and the former defender is unlikely to leave The Cherries if they’re promoted to the top flight, as widely expected, this season.
RAFA BENITEZ
If West Ham plan to become regulars amongst the division’s European rankings, they need a manager who knows both the continental and Premier League scenes extremely well.
Meeting that demand in abundance is former Liverpool and Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez, who has miraculously emerged as the bookies’ favourite to take over at Upton Park next season with his Napoli spell almost certain to come to an end.
The Spaniard often has a marmite effect on football fans but his success is undoubted, winning two La Liga titles and a UEFA Cup with Valencia, an FA Cup and a Champions League with Liverpool and the 2013 Europa League, despite an incidious relationship with the club’s fanbase, during his infamous ‘interim’ stint at Chelsea.
Only at Inter Milan has his win rate dropped below 50% in the last decade, whilst Benitez’ ability to attract star-studded names to East London due to his high status and many connections throughout the game remains another positive.
Whether West Ham have enough financial muscle to acquire a manager who’s worked almost exclusively at Champions League level since 2004 however, remains to be seen.
West Brom travel to Stoke today still firmly in the hunt for a Europa League spot.
The hosts have not been in form of late and they would be bottom of the league with just four points if the season had started on the 1st January 2013, but they can take comfort from their superb home form.
The Baggies will be eager to keep up the pressure on the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton above them and will be relying on striker Romelu Lukaku to be on goal scoring form once again.
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Leeds fans are calling for their club to sign Ollie McBurnie as the Swansea striker continues to impress on loan at Barnsley.
There will certainly be a few eyes on Ollie McBurnie this weekend, as the youngster travels with Barnsley to Elland Road.
McBurnie was one of several strikers that were available on loan in January, along with the red hot Aleksandar Mitrovic and the impressive Lewis Grabban.
Barnsley, Fulham and Aston Villa are all delighted with the form of their loan additions, and it has left Leeds fans wondering why they didn’t do more to add to their ranks in January.
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McBurnie won the Championship player of the month award in February, and now boasts some impressive stats from his time at relegation battling Barnsley.
The Leeds-born youngster was shipped off from Leeds for being too small in 2010, and now has eight goals in 12 starts, has created 18 chances, won 32 aerial duels, and has an impressive 33% chance conversion rate.
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Fans are of course fed up with the lack of goals from the likes of Caleb Ekuban and Pierre-Michel Lasogga, and they’re calling for their club to sign McBurnie this summer.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
When your team spends as much as Manchester City have done in recent years, finishing one whole season without the touch of silverware is often perceived to be – among the most pessimistic of supporters – an unforgivable failure. The days when hard work and determination were enough for the fans to leave the stadium satisfied are seemingly becoming a thing of the past, due to the increased hype and sensation that currently surround the modern game.
With the Citizens being unceremoniously knocked-out of the FA Cup earlier this season, and both the domestic campaign and the Champions League not looking favourable for the Sky Blues either in 2014/15, Manuel Pellegrini is a man under a great deal of pressure, if reports in The Guardian prove true. Several high profile managers may be already being lined up to replace the Chilean at the end of the season, with The Daily Star suggesting former UCL winner and Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is in the frame.
In light of such a dramatic turn of events in the space of two seasons, just how tenable is Pellegrini’s position at the Etihad? Does he deserve to be sacked if he finishes the campaign entirely trophy-less, or is such a line of thinking premature, a sad indictment of what the game has ultimately become in the modern era?
For those in support of the 61-year-old’s potential sacking, Manchester City’s somewhat indifferent league form this season does in fact act as partial evidence for their bold claims.
Yes, they have pretty much been in decent form throughout the entire 2014/15 campaign. And yes, the Sky Blues still theoretically remain in touching distance of the title if Chelsea produce a major slip up between now and the end of term. But as today’s game is all about winning, and winning with style, Pellegrini’s team will nevertheless be considered failures if they fail to pick up any silverware this season.
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The Chilean’s tactics have often been called into question in 2014/15, some of his major stars have simply not lived up to their usual standard, and one too many times Manchester City have looked far too lack-lustre and over confident to be considered worthy of winning anything this year – just cast your mind back to their most recent outing against Burnley if you’re still undecided.
Having said that though, what will become of the English game if clubs think it necessary to sack their manager a mere one year after they successfully won the league title? This demanding attitude simply can’t take hold if the sport is to survive in its purist form – and as Chelsea have displayed through their recent merry-go-round of managerial appointments in recent years – such a notion very rarely comes with the success that it intends. The Blues eventually won the Champions League with Roberto Di Matteo at the helm after-all, an interim boss who was put in place initially on a temporary basis as best.
Manuel Pellegrini should therefore keep his position at Manchester City at the end of the season even if his side finish the campaign completely trophy-less. He deserves time to build whatever he wants to at the club – for that’s what was issued to him upon first becoming City’s boss, and that is therefore what he should justly receive.
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If he were to be unceremoniously sacked on the back of one ‘bad’ season however, the game will be that one step closer to turning into somewhat of a joke. Those with the money will seemingly prevail over those with the determination to build and lay the foundations for further success and the Premier League will simply be filled with even more glory hunters than currently make up the English game.
In deciding whether Pellegrini stays or goes, Manchester City are ultimately taking on a great amount of responsibility, whether or not the recently wealthy club realise it.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas remains optimistic after his side’s Premier League defeat against Liverpool and hopes the team can manage another 12-match unbeaten run after the setback.
Spurs failed to increase their third-place advantage over Chelsea and Arsenal, but the Portuguese is still confident the team can finish the season among the top-four and qualify for the Champions League, reports Sky Sports.
“A couple of mistakes at the end cost us the game but we can’t be too negative on what we have done,” he said.
“Hopefully this is a reminder for us but we’ll try and go on another 12-game unbeaten run.”
Villas-Boas regretted the chances the team missed when leading 2-1, but assured that he was happy with the performance of his players.
“The chance for Sigurdsson was a big, big chance. But we did ever so well to come into the game, played well and managed to create some good opportunities,” he added.
“The boys did well apart from a couple of mistakes that we committed. But that was a good performance. We are confident we can put our strengths back together and go on another run.”
The 35-year-old also appealed to the character the team has shown in previous blips in what has on the whole been a successful season so far.
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“We’ve suffered set-backs before. But we’ve jumped out of them and I think that it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to put ourselves back on track,” he concluded.
Newcastle United are one step closer towards English Premier League safety after a late Ayoze Perez goal was enough to secure a victory at home to Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
The Magpies deserved their victory but having missed a number of chances, fans feared they might have to settle for a point before Perez converted Kenedy’s classy cross just 10 minutes from the end.
Kenedy was a bright spark throughout for Rafa Benitez’s side, his assist coming after he scored a double last time out against Southampton.
Fans are loving the impact he’s made since signing on loan from Chelsea in January and they’re now calling on the club to do the business necessary to sign him permanently this summer.
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With first team opportunities at the Blues hard to come by, a move to St James’ Park could be perfect for both the player and the Magpies, giving them something unique in attack.
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Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the situation after Saturday’s match…