All posts by h716a5.icu

New Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will spend his 10-day quarantine assessing transfer targets for the Hoops, according to The Scottish Sun.   

The Lowdown: Postecoglou announced

The Hoops finally confirmed Postecoglou as their new manager, almost two weeks on from making him their main target after a breakdown in talks with Eddie Howe.

Postecoglou left Yokohama F. Marinos to sign a 12-month rolling contract with Celtic, with the club sharing the news on Thursday morning.

The Australian’s final game in charge of the Japanese side came on Wednesday, losing to fourth-tier side Honda FC in the domestic cup.

The Latest: Postecoglou’s quarantine plans

The Scottish Sun shared a story on the 55-year-old on Thursday evening.

They claimed Postecoglou will ‘spend much of his quarantine assessing potential transfer targets’ – an exciting nine-word claim on the new man in charge in Glasgow.

Postecoglou could well be set for a busy summer, especially with star men Kristoffer Ajer and Odsonne Edouard making it clear they want to leave the club over the coming months.

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The Verdict: Spine key for Postecoglou

With the new Celtic boss looking at possible additions, plenty of areas to strengthen may well come to light.

Should Ajer leave however, that could leave Postecoglou with just one fit senior centre-back in Stephen Welsh due to Christoper Jullien’s injury.

If Edouard departs, you’d also expect a new prolific centre-forward would be required.

The void left by Scott Brown in the middle of midfield may also need to be filled, so the spine of the side is going to need some serious work if the Hoops are to seriously challenge rivals Rangers next season.

Flair players on the flanks are a luxury any manager would love to have, but the new Hoops boss must immediately focus his attention on building a proper core through the middle of the his XI.

In other news: Olivier Ntcham edges closer to Celtic exit, find out more here. 

Daniel Farke’s Norwich City side are interested in a move for Angus Gunn this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Hampshire Live, who claim that Southampton are open to the possibility of parting with the £2.7m-rated goalkeeper this summer, with Norwich reported to have identified the former England U21 international as a transfer target.

Hampshire Live go on to report that Norwich are considering bringing a new ‘keeper to Carrow Road in order to provide support and to compete for a starting spot with Tim Krul, as Orjan Nyland is stalling over a contract extension due to a lack of game time at the club.

Webber must move

Having spent the season on loan at Stoke City, Gunn turned in a number of solid performances while at the Bet365 Stadium, helping his side to keep six clean sheets, as well as making an average of 2.1 saves and 0.9 successful run outs per game over his 15 Championship appearances, culminating in an average SofaScore match rating of 6.73.

And, while this form is far from remarkable, there is easily enough evidence to make the argument that the shot-stopper – who came through the youth ranks at Norwich before moving to Manchester City – would be a good signing for Daniel Farke’s side.

Firstly is the point raised in Hampshire Live’s report regarding Orjan Nyland – with the 30-year-old goalkeeper looking set to depart City this summer without making an appearance since arriving at the club in February.

As such, Norwich simply have to bring in a ‘keeper to provide Krul with cover and competition ahead of next season – and, considering the fact that Gunn already has a decent amount of Premier League game time under his belt from his time at Southampton, he would appear a fine candidate in terms of experience in the league.

Secondly, and a rather important point when factoring in how Stuart Webber goes about his business in terms of incoming transfers, Gunn would appear to be an extremely cost-effective signing, with the ‘keeper – whom Ralph Hassenhuttl claimed has a “big future” ahead of him – likely to be available for a figure around his £2.7m Transfermarkt valuation due to being surplus to requirements at St. Mary’s.

Finally, the 25-year-old is a player who it can be assumed Daniel Farke is a big fan of, as the German manager brought Gunn the to club on loan for City’s 2017/18 Championship campaign, meaning that it should not take the £40k-per-week man long to adjust to life back at Carrow Road.

So, all in all, it would appear as if a move by Webber for the ‘keeper would be a very astute signing for the Canaries this summer, as the sporting director looks to build a squad capable of retaining their top-flight status beyond next season.

In other news: Major Norwich City development is revealed that’ll surely have fans buzzing – opinion

The second unofficial Test Match between Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A played at NCC Grounds in Colombo today, like the first game in Dambulla, proved to be a keenly contested affair and at the close of play the game remained evenly balanced, with Sri

Charlie Austin19-Jun-2001The second unofficial Test Match between Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A playedat NCC Grounds in Colombo today, like the first game in Dambulla, proved tobe a keenly contested affair and at the close of play the game remainedevenly balanced, with Sri Lanka claiming a marginal advantage.Pakistan, who looked well set on 102 for two at one stage, lost steadywickets throughout the afternoon, as the Sri Lankan fast bowlers started tofind their groove. The left-handed Toufiq Umer held the innings togetherwith a three-and-a-half hour 69. They were eventually bowled out for 229.Sri Lanka then survived a potentially dangerous eight over spell as theshadows started to stretch across this tree-lined ground. The Pakistaniopeners bowled with great fire and enthusiasm and managed to winkle outDammika Sudarshana, who was caught at third slip. Avishka Gunawardene,however, responded with typical disdain, smashing four boundaries before theclose.Sri Lanka, though delighted to have bowled out a talented Pakistan battingline-up through a combination of probing fast bowling and poor Pakistanirunning, will have been disappointed to have failed to fully exploit moistconditions during the morning session after winning the toss.They selected three fast bowlers – including Suresh Perera and IsharaAmarasinghe who did not play in Dambulla – so the decision to bowl first wasa fair one, even if Pakistan were unperturbed – they apparently wanted tobat.Unfortunately for Thilan Samaraweera, the captain, the openers, AkalankaGanegama and Ishara Amarasinghe, failed to find their radar and allowedPakistan to recover from the loss of an early wicket: Faisal Naweed in thefifth over, who was trapped leg-before wicket with a delivery from Ganegamathat looked gun barrel straight.Imran Farhat, a stocky left-hander, then played stylishly with Toufiq Umer,another left-hander, and the pair added 58 for the second wicket beforeIshara Amarasinghe, a strong-shouldered young prospect with genuine pace,trapped Farhat leg-before wicket for 27 in his first spell after theluncheon interval.Hasan Raza, who has been an up and coming player for an age, failed tofollow his hundred in the first match when he was caught behind off SureshPerera, who grew in confidence throughout the day. The Pakistan innings wasback in the balance at 102 for three.Qaiser Abbas and Toufiq Umer, who had by now completed a fine fifty, added afurther 35 runs, before Michael Vandort, a palm tree of a man, stretchedsmoothly down at second slip to catch Abbas for 23.The turning point of the innings came in the 56th over of the innings.Pakistan were 160 for 4 and looking strong with Touqir Umer on 69. He wasbatting with Misbah-ul-Haq, similar in style to his namesake Inzamann, butalso in his destructive running between the wickets. Within the space ofeight balls Umer and the wicket-keeper batsmen Humayan Farhat were back inthe pavilion having been run out.Pakistan’s tail had been opened and the Sri Lankan fast bowlers sensed someeasier pickings. Misbah-ul-Haq did his best to make up for the run outsthough with an entertaining 34, full of placid defensive strokes, delicatelate cuts, and lumbering clumps through mid on. Inzamann would have beenproud to share his name.After Yasir Arafat and ul-Haq had added 15 for the eight wicket Pakistanlost three wickets for 25, before Irfan Fazil (26) warmed up for his bowlingwith some entertaining blows at the death and added 17 for the final wicket.Perera, who bore the brunt of Fazil’s aggression, ended the innings whenTillakaratne Dilshan took his third catch of the innings behind the stumps.

Manchester City blew their chance of officially regaining the Premier League title against Chelsea on Saturday afternoon as Pep Guardiola’s side were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad.

Although the Citizens can still win the title this weekend should Manchester United fail to win against Aston Villa on Sunday, it was a wasted opportunity for City against Thomas Tuchel’s side.

Guardiola opted to make nine changes for the game and his side once again looked disjointed before finding the breakthrough shortly before half time, with Raheem Sterling tapping in after Sergio Aguero looked to have fluffed an open goal.

The Argentine striker was then involved in another of the game’s key moments shortly afterwards, as City were awarded a penalty which had he scored, could have put them in a comfortable position, but instead, he opted to try a Panenka penalty, which was easily saved by Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea fought back in the second half and deservedly equalised through Hakim Ziyech, before Marcos Alonso stole the three points at the death to consign City to defeat.

Although Aguero will understandably take a lot of the blame for the defeat, there were plenty of poor performances on show from City’s players, with Benjamin Mendy, in particular, disappointing with his display.

As per SofaScore, the French defender, who cost City £52m in 2017, would earn a 6.8 match rating for his display, with Aguero rated a 6.7/10 for his performance.

Although the former AS Monaco man was solid from an attacking point of view, managing two key passes and a 90% pass accuracy, his defending, or lack of, was one of the key reasons why the game turned in Chelsea’s favour.

The second half regularly saw Chelsea get in behind City’s defence down Mendy’s side, with Reece James causing him all sorts of problems when running at him, which highlighted just how much the left-back struggled from a defensive perspective.

He was also out-fought on a number of occasions, winning just two of his nine total duels in the game, resulting in a less than impressive 22% success rate.

The World Cup winner was dribbled past on two occasions, whilst he managed just one tackle and one interception, which was the fewest of any Manchester City defender.

Mendy was eventually axed by Guardiola with 10 minutes remaining after Tuchel brought on Callum Hudson-Odoi to help expose City’s weakness down the left-hand side, which highlights that he was clearly the weak link on Saturday, and arguably cost Guardiola with his inability to defend.

And, in other news… Txiki should seal Man City swoop for “world-class” beast who left Pep speechless

A number of Liverpool supporters have been lauding Thiago’s performance in the Reds’ exceptional 4-2 win away to Manchester United.

Jurgen Klopp’s picked up a memorable victory at Old Trafford on Thursday night, potentially putting destiny in their own hands in the Premier League top-four battle.

Having fallen behind, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino turned the game on its head before half-time, before the Brazilian struck again after the interval.

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Marcus Rashford’s goal made for a nervy ending, before Mohamed Salah put the icing on the cake in the dying seconds.

It was one of Liverpool’s most important wins of the season, with numerous players standing out, not least the superb Trent Alexander-Arnold.

One individual who really caught the eye was Thiago though, who shone in the middle of the park, both in terms of his quality on the ball and work-rate off it.

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Liverpool fans laud Thiago’s display

These Liverpool fans took to Twitter to heap praise on the Spaniard.

“Thiago was brilliant yesterday. He was everywhere”

Credit: @Redsmail

“Thiago is a snide and I adore him. Pass it on”

Credit: @GraemeKelly1

“World class”

Credit: @MasterWayne_

“Next season yeah…just you wait. He’s found his feet at LFC now”

Credit: @_shivam99

“Thiago will be immense for us next season and I’m here for all of it”

Credit: @Fran6_Linux

“Thiago was amazing tonight”

Credit: @lfccxt

In other news, some Liverpool fans have reacted negatively to a transfer link surrounding one player. Find out who it is here.

Former England striker Kevin Phillips believes Patrick Bamford’s recent struggles are down to fatigue, with reinforcements needed this summer.

The Lowdown: Bamford experiences dip

Leeds United have had numerous star performers this season, but Bamford has undoubtedly been one of the key men, scoring 14 goals and registering seven assists in the Premier League.

The 27-year-old has suffered a noticeable dip of late, however, not finding the net in his last five appearances – his last goal came at Fulham on March 19th – and lacking his usual all-round influence.

The Latest: Phillips blames fatigue

Speaking to Football Insider, Phillips claimed a long season has caught up with Bamford, saying it is why Marcelo Bielsa needs to sign another striker this summer:

“Bamford has played an awful lot of football this season and I think fatigue is setting in. He looks a bit tired to me. He has worked his socks off this season so there is no way I am going to criticise him because he has had a fantastic season.

“As a striker, you need to just keep believing. He will be watching videos and putting extra work in on the training ground.

“It is hard because he was on a hell of a run but the goals can dry up. He needs to keep putting himself in good positions and if he does that the goals will come.

“He has played a lot of football though so I think tiredness and fatigues is kicking in. They need to sign somebody in the summer who can share the burden.”

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The Verdict: No worries over Bamford

It is only natural that Bamford has dropped off a little recently, considering the relentless nature of this season and Bielsa’s physical demands of his players.

The Englishman has started all 34 league games, highlighting how much football he has played and why he may now be running on empty, even with Phillips suggesting he may actually be doing extra work on top of all that at Thorp Arch.

Bringing in an extra striker ahead of next season would ease the burden on Bamford, as Phillips alludes to, allowing him more of a breather and keeping him fresh for a whole campaign.

In other news, one Leeds-related transfer deal has reportedly been agreed – find out who the player in question is here.

According to reports, Leeds are interested in signing Ajax defender Nicolas Tagliafico.

What’s the story?

With Gjanni Alioski set to leave Marcelo Bielsa’s side in the summer once his contract expires – there have even been suggestions that he has agreed a pre-contract with Turkish Super Lig giants Galatasaray – it’s no surprise that the Premier League club appear to be on the look-out for a new left-back.

Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen revealed during the broadcast of Ajax’s Europa League clash against AS Roma on Thursday night that the Whites “would like to have” the 28-year-old.

Bielsa’s game-changer

Since joining from Argentinian side Independiente, the £22.5m-rated Tagliafico has established himself as a key part of Ajax’s line-up, even helping them reach the Champions League semi-finals just a couple of seasons ago.

Dubbed as “fierce” and someone who “works hard”, he has got the kind of attacking instincts as a left-back which would surely please Bielsa. A profile done by Football.London revealed: “In Argentina, Tagliafico is regarded as the heir to Zanetti because of his lung-busting stamina, excellent technique and continuous attacking threat.”

With a decent record of 13 goals and 18 assists in 135 games for Ajax as a left-back, it’s the 28-year-old’s underlying numbers which really stand out and make him someone who could be a game-changer for Bielsa.

As per WhoScored, Tagliafico averages far more shots, key passes, dribbles and crosses per game in league football than Alioski has done this season, and is comfortably better than him defensively, too. While the two players are evenly-matched for tackles made, it’s the Argentine who wins when it comes to interceptions and clearances, while also being dribbled past on fewer occasions.

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Having a marauding left-back like Tagliafico – who this season was recorded by UEFA as having a faster sprint speed than Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi – could add a whole new dimension to Leeds’ attacks and ensure that Bielsa’s side aren’t just looking to the likes of Patrick Bamford and Raphinha for attacking inspiration.

Meanwhile, Leeds must unleash this academy starlet…

In recent comments made on Twitter, Caught Offside’s Leah Smith claimed that Liverpool have completed the signing of RB Leipzig centre-back, Ibrahima Konate.

So far this season, Liverpool have been extremely unlucky with injuries to their central defenders, with all three of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip being ruled out until the summer.

As a result, Jurgen Klopp brought in both Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies in the January transfer window, however, with Kabak struggling for form somewhat – the 21-year-old has averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.69 over his eight Premier League appearances – and with Ben Davies having yet to make an appearance for the club, it would seem as if greater depth is still required in the position.

And, according to Smith, Liverpool have just secured the addition of RB Leipzig centre-back, Ibrahima Konate, with the journalist stating on Twitter: “MASSIVE! Ibrahima Konate to Liverpool is DONE and will be official on May 1st, 2021! £32m.”

Transfer Tavern Take

Despite having missed a large part of this season due to a number of injuries – something that could be a slight concern for Liverpool – the signing of Konate would certainly appear to be an impressive one for the Reds, with the former RB Leipzig manager, Ralf Rangnick, stating that the 21-year-old is “so good that he could play for Real Madrid or Barcelona.”

Furthermore, if Smith is to be believed, the £32 million fee Liverpool have paid for the France U21 international would seem to be extremely reasonable, as this figure is only slightly higher than his Tranfermarkt valuation of £31.5 million.

Given Konate’s age, assuming his injury woes don’t follow him to Merseyside, this could be a really astute piece of business.

In other news: ‘Get out of my club’, ‘How can you even tweet this?’ – Lots of Liverpool fans rip into key man – find out more here!

South African captain Shaun Pollock put a day of travel headaches behind himas he considered the challenging awaiting his team on Grenada, theninth port of call for the tourists in a little over two months

05-May-2001South African captain Shaun Pollock put a day of travel headaches behind himas he considered the challenging awaiting his team on Grenada, theninth port of call for the tourists in a little over two months. SouthAfrica meet the West Indies in the third and fourth one-day internationalson the island on Saturday and Sunday.The team only reached their beach-side hotel outside the capital StGeorge’s at 10.30pm on Thursday. The squad were due to travel fromAntigua via Barbados and Trinidad, but delays forced a diversion direct toGrenada, an unplanned move which may have upset a few passengers, but alsoavoided total chaos.”It’s going to be hard work playing back-to-back games,” Pollock said ashe made his way to voluntary nets. “We’ve done it in Australia before but wedon’t often do it.”The heavy workload for many of the senior players is almost certain tomean that some of the players who have yet to feature in the series will geta run-out in Grenada, although Pollock himself is cheerfully resigned tofive more games before a well-earned break.”As much as we’d like to win both the games here, we also have anopportunity to rest a few guys and give opprtunities to others. We have acore of players which is unlikely to change, but we can rotate the otherguys.”I don’t know exactly what we’ll do just yet, but we need to keep somefreshness in the camp. But it’s difficult to rotate the key players.”I know I’ve got five matches left, but I’ve got three months rest afterthat!”One of the changes within the side may see Pollock try and capitalise onhis superb form with the bat. He was in fact down to come in at number sixin the second one-dayer in Antigua, but was not required to come to thecrease as Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis lead South Africa to aresounding eight wicket win to level the series.Neil McKenzie will have a fitness test on his hamstring injury, but is likely to be given an extra day to find full fitness, in theprocess allowing Boeta Dippenaar another chance in the middle-order.There are also likely to be changes in the bowling attack, with RogerTelemachus and Allan Donald both sitting out one of the games this weekend.Makhaya Ntini and Justin Kemp are the men most likely to profit.South Africa (possible): Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis,Jonty Rhodes, Boeta Dippenaar, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock,Justin Ontong, Roger Telemachus, Makhaya Ntini.

Newcastle players have been granted a raft of days off despite their dismal defeat at Brighton, with players left stunned that Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley have not dismissed Steve Bruce.

A Daily Mail exclusive from Craig Hope claims that the Toon Army will report to Darsley Park on Tuesday for the first time since that 3-0 loss at the Amex.

That will kick-off a period of three days’ training, but there are then no sessions pencilled in between Friday and Monday.

The report says that players have become ‘increasingly concerned’ at the amount of time off they have been given in the midst of their battle to stay in the Premier League.

Hope also claims that parts of the squad are ‘shocked’ Ashley and Charnley haven’t pulled the trigger on Bruce after the loss to Brighton, with this latest raft of days off only adding to the sense of bemusement.

A club source defended the plan, citing the ‘mental and physical wellbeing’ of the squad. The hope is that it will ease the feeling of the pressure ahead of the run-in.

Six senior players are currently away on international duty – Martin Dubravka, Emil Krafth, Ciaran Clark, Jamal Lewis, Jeff Hendrick and Ryan Fraser.

Transfer Tavern verdict

If you were a Newcastle fan, you would probably want to see your players on as strict a regime as possible over this break.

After all, there were signs in that Brighton game that certain players’ focus had wavered, and that is unacceptable in these circumstances.

It feels like the last thing this squad needs is more time for their focus to shift away from what really matters, which is likely what these increased days off will do.

In other news, Graeme Souness offered a bleak warning in the wake of Saturday’s game.