Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill is adamant that he can keep the club clear of relegation.
The Black Cats currently occupy 18th position in the Premier League after an uninspiring start to the campaign.
Despite spending over £20m on Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson during the summer, the North East-based outfit have struggled, managing just two victories.
Ahead of their midweek clash with fellow relegation battlers Reading, O’Neill was boisterous in defending his position in the dugout:
“So what do you do then? So you go and put someone else in charge, he gets a group of 12, 13 games and can’t win any matches? It’s the same thing,” he responded when asked if he should still be in charge of the club according to ESPN.
“I don’t want to sound wildly boastful, but not only am I the best man for the job, I am actually the only man for the job.
“We will steer it through, we will get calmer waters ahead – it might take us a few months to do that – and then we will see.
“If we are continuing for the next couple of years to be in this position, then I will certainly question it then.”
He went on to reveal that he is surprised by the lacklustre performances of his players:
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“Progress eventually, no matter what you think about it, is determined by results on the pitch, and we are in a similar position, so you could say whether we have made that sort of progress or not.
“It’s interesting because it’s really the same squad that we have had – we still have, I think, about 19 players from last season.”
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa tackled his first press conference for the Whites, and fans seem impressed with the new boss.
The Argentine manager spoke for 80 minutes to journalists at Thorp Arch, Leeds’ training ground, answering a series of questions in his native Spanish through a translator.
Some of the highlights of Bielsa’s press conference included him stating that he watched every single one of Leeds’ 51 matches last season, as many as 15 players could be on their way out of the club this summer and he wants to play attacking football.
When asked whether he preferred Brian Clough’s or Don Revie’s playing style for Leeds, Bielsa replied: “In terms of winning the right way, I prefer to lose rather than cheat or play tricks.”
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Leeds fans have been reacting to his first press conference on social media, and it appears that fans are almost universally happy with what their new boss had to say.
Tottenham Hotspur will again be without first-choice centre-backs Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen for Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round replay against Rochdale.
Alderweireld and Vertonghen both missed Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, but it had been thought that the pair would return for the FA Cup clash at Wembley.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino ruled the pair out of action at his pre-match press conference, however, with a hamstring problem keeping Alderweireld on the sidelines, and an ankle injury still troubling Vertonghen.
Vertonghen has been a constant in the Spurs defence this season, but Alderweireld has only made two FA Cup appearances since injuring his hamstring in November.
The future of the Belgium international continues to be called into question, meanwhile, as his contract saga with Tottenham shows no sign of ending.
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Young Argentine defender Juan Foyth is expected to be given the chance to start against Rochdale, and Davinson Sanchez – who has kept Alderweireld out in recent weeks – has been tipped to also feature at the heart of the back four.
Next up for Tottenham in the Premier League is a home game against Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon.
Twitter is now most people’s central hub for football related news, information, rumours and more.Every club has its fair share of fan run accounts that all strive to deliver the latest on their specific club to fans queuing up waiting to retweet, favourite or belittle each tweet.It’s the nature of the social networking site. Most admins of club Twitter accounts will have learned to take any abuse or criticism on the chin – it’s part of the ‘job’ after all.Which is why the rapid rise and fall of the recently founded @TotallyManU is so tragically hilarious. The admin claims to have quit a well paid job to solely provide Man United related news, exclusives and much more to fans all around the world.What the admin thought he’d gain out of it is anyone’s guess. What he got, though, was a barrage of abuse and a lot of people laughing at him. Including us here at FootballFanCast.As you can imagine, it all ended in tears…
Schalke midfielder Lewis Holtby is yet to sign a contract extension in Germany but his club’s general manager Horst Heldt is refusing to pressurise their star man.
Holtby has rapidly risen to success at Schalke and has since been capped by Germany, despite having an English father who wants him to play in the Premier League.
Manchester United are reportedly keen on the midfielder, who has one year left on his current deal, but Arsenal and Liverpool have also been linked with the Schalke star.
“We are in intensive talks with Lewis (Holtby),” Heldt told Deutsche Presseagentur.
“I would be glad to see him decide in our favour then.
“Still it is very important for him to take his time and look into options at other clubs.
“It’s the only way for him to find out that Schalke 04 is the right choice for him as a player.”
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Arsenal’s recruitment has had a distinctly German flavour since the arrival of Sven Mislintat, with a particular influence from Borussia Dortmund as they seek to assemble a squad to take them out of the post-Arsene Wenger era.
Greek international Sokratis Papastathopoulos is widely expected to be the next man to form Unai Emery’s Gunners revolution, joining from Dortmund on July 1 in a deal worth a reported £16m to bolster the backline.
Arsenal have needed a commanding central defender for many a year but Wenger’s attempts to rectify the issue were largely unsuccessful so Emery will hope to have better luck in the opening stages of his reign.
However, with every transfer, there are major consequences for the buying club, in terms of their existing squad and elsewhere and Football FanCast have taken a closer look at some of them if the deal does get over the line…
The end of Laurent Koscielny’s Arsenal career
Soccer Football – Europa League Semi Final Second Leg – Atletico Madrid v Arsenal – Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – May 3, 2018 Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny reacts after sustaining an injury REUTERS/Juan Medina
Koscielny has been the glue holding Arsenal’s backline together for many a year but the arrival of Sokratis may well change that.
The French international suffered a serious injury against Atletico Madrid in the closing weeks of the season and he will be 33 by the time he recovers.
Not many players of that age get back to their best and by the time he returns, Emery will hope that his Greek recruit will be fully settled into Premier League life and flourishing. Koscielny may be forced to leave North London.
Mustafi gets a solid partner and stays
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In the enforced absence of Koscielny, Emery may have little option but to partner Sokratis with German international Shkodran Mustafi in the early weeks of the season.
As poor as the former Valencia man has been at times, there is a suspicion that he just needs a solid partner alongside him and his confidence should return.
Also, Emery prefers a 4-2-3-1 and greater defensive protection in front of him from two holding midfielders could also bolster the Gunners defence and provide the foundation for almost instant improvement.
Mavropanos has a breakthrough season
Konstantinos Mavropanos showed glimpses of what he could do towards the end of last season, most notably in an impressive debut performance against Manchester United.
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Perhaps the arrival of his countryman Sokratis could see him jump ahead of Rob Holding and Calum Chambers in the central defensive pecking order to establish himself as a solid backup.
If Mustafi doesn’t make the necessary improvements and Koscielny struggles slightly with his injury, Emery may even end up with an all-Greek central defensive duo by the end of his first Emirates season.
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According to the Daily Record, West Ham United defender Jose Fonte has agreed to join Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Yifang.
What’s the story?
Fonte joined West Ham from Southampton in January 2017, with the Hammers believed to have paid £8m to sign the Portuguese.
The 34-year-old made 16 appearances for his London club last season, but has only featured in eight Premier League matches during the 2017-18 campaign.
The centre-back has not actually represented West Ham in the Premier League since the end of October, with an ankle problem seeing him miss a lot of football.
Fonte has returned to the fold in recent weeks, but has only been a substitute for West Ham’s last three Premier League matches, and it is understood that he is not in the plans of head coach David Moyes moving forward.
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According to the Daily Record, Fonte has already agreed to make the move to newly-promoted Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang.
When the deal go through?
It is understood that Fonte will travel to Asia at the start of next week to sign a three-year contract with the Chinese club.
According to the Daily Record, Dalian Yifang have agreed to pay £4.9m to sign Fonte, which is a good deal for West Ham when considering that the defender’s contract at the London Stadium will expire at the end of next season.
Eyebrows were raised when the Hammers spent £8m on a player entering the final stages of his career, but it seems that the capital club will not lose too much money on the deal.
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The new Chinese Super League campaign starts next week, and it is thought that Dalian Yifang are hopeful of securing Fonte’s signature before the end of the month.
It appears that Fonte has made his 24th and final appearance for West Ham as he becomes the latest European player to try his hand in China.
The great St Mary’s fire sale continues, with news breaking this afternoon that Morgan Schneiderlin has handed in a formal transfer request at Southampton.
The news follows a renegade Twitter tirade yesterday evening, the sought-after midfielder tweeting “6 years of an amazing journey with #SaintsFC DESTROYED in 1 hour,” following a meeting with Executive Director Les Reed and CEO Gareth Rodgers where Schneiderlin was told he wouldn’t be allowed to leave the south-coast outfit, despite well-documented interest from Arsenal and Spurs.
Breaking reports suggest the Frenchman refused to take part in today’s training session at Staplewood.
The social media outburst, and indeed, the entire Schneiderlin situation, raises an interesting point – does the France international have a right to feel aggrieved, or should he be accepting the decision of his employers and the terms of his contract?
Well, you can certainly understand it from the France international’s point of view, even if his methods come with a dose of childish unprofessionalism. He’s already witnessed Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers – a quintet that collectively amassed 152 Premier League starts for the Saints last season – walk out of St. Mary’s this summer with the club seemingly putting up little resistance whilst generating £76million in pure transfer profit. Allegations of asset stripping against inherited owner Katharina Liebherr have ensued.
The club have reinvested some of the funds, £20million to be precise, in new signings Duscan Tadic and Graziano Pelle, both sourced from the Eredivisie, whilst the club claim plans to make three more acquisitions by the end of the week, with Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar, Celtic ‘keeper Fraser Forster, Argentina defender Marcos Rojo and Norwich pair Leroy Fer and Nathan Redmond all rumoured targets.
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But none of these signings match the ambition Southampton were showing prior to the resignation of former Chairman Nicola Cortese in January, whose plans to make the Saints a consistent top half Premier League club were well known – perhaps symbolised best by his overseeing of the club’s record-breaking €17million deal for former Roma star Dani Osvaldo. His departure, combined with the sudden exodus this summer, suggests the current Southampton board don’t take that mission quite as seriously.
Likewise, Schneiderlin’s performances over the last two campaigns have been as vital as any of his team-mates in aiding Southampton’s rapid progression up the league table. Due to his individual style and role in the side, the France international’s influence is often understated, but the stats speak for themselves and remarkably, Schneiderlin has made the most tackles, 259, and the most interceptions, 207, of any Premier League player since the Saints’ top flight ascension two years ago.
That impeccable form has seen the 24 year-old muscle his way into the France senior fold, whom he represented against Ecuador at the World Cup, and emerge on the radars of Arsenal and Tottenham – the former in desperate need of a holding midfielder and the latter now managed by former St. Mary’s boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Considering how Southampton stars of arguably lesser intrinsic contributions have already been allowed to leave the club this summer, Schneiderlin must feel justified in his actions. Furthermore, the Frenchman has been with the Saints since their League One days, remaining at the heartbeat of midfield for the last six campaigns and a vital, ever-present factor in their successive promotions. This is not, as often in the modern climate, simply another case of another player using a club as a platform to quickly advance his career and salary.
WANT MORE? >> Southampton transfer news | Latest transfer news
That being said, make no mistake that Schneiderlin is relying upon a culture of player power to get his way. He has perhaps been more earnest than Luis Suarez, more grateful than Stoke City’s Steven N’Zonzi, yet, like both, the France international is refusing to fulfil the terms of a contract he signed less than 18 months ago, which extended his St. Mary’s stay until 2017. Furthermore, in only April this year, the midfielder informed Mirror Football; “As long as we don’t receive a concrete offer, and as long as the club says they won’t sell, I will never force a transfer.“
Southampton are yet to receive a concrete offer and the club have also stated that they won’t sell, yet Schneiderlin, despite insisting otherwise just four months ago, is indeed now attempting to force a transfer.
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Words carry little weight in the beautiful game but legal contracts should. Perhaps Schneiderlin feels that Southampton are no longer matching his ambition, and admittedly, the 24 year-old is clearly capable of plying his trade at European level.
However, he owes the Saints as much as they owe him – acquiring Schneiderlin for £1.2million after just five appearances for Strasbourg first team, whilst they were still in League One, was an enormous risk at the time. And upon agreeing new terms in 2013, he consented to his fate at the club being determined by the employers.
Does Schneiderlin have a right to feel aggrieved? Of course he does. Feeling aggrieved, however, does not entitle you to a transfer.
chairman Tony Fernandes has privately backed Mark Hughes and dismissed suggestions that Harry Redknapp is set to steal his job reports The Mail.
The 48-year-old, former Wales manager has been under increasing pressure during the last few weeks after a summer of heavy spending and an influx of players failed to produce results on the pitch. Hughes is yet to see his side pick up all three points this season and they remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League with only two points from the first seven games.
Despite another defeat last weekend, Fernandes will now give Hughes more time to turn results around on the pitch after dismissing any talk of Harry Redknapp taking over the management position.
The former Spurs boss had admitted that he is looking for another high profile managerial role and QPR would fit his criteria. However it appears that the QPR chief wants someone who can gradually build a team which is not Redknapp speciality while also having concerns about his age.
Meanwhile Hughes has the full support of the Loftus Road dressing road according to defender Clint Hill. Hill is quoted as saying on Sky Sports: “The gaffer’s confident he can turn things around – he wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t. He’s still got the full support of all the boys. We’re fully behind him and the staff.”
The R’s take on Everton at home next Sunday when the Premier League programme resumes with three points a necessity for Hughes.
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Tottenham have been linked with several central midfielders already this summer, but which young star should they sign?
It feels like only a matter of time before Mousa Dembele leaves Tottenham, and the Belgian beast will no doubt leave a gaping hole in Mauricio Pochettino’s midfield.
The 30 year-old looks all set to move to China this summer, and Spurs have already been linked with tons of possible replacements.
Two names that have cropped up more than any others are Jack Grealish and Tanguy Ndombele.
According to Paris United, the French outlet that broke the Serge Aurier transfer before anyone else last summer, Spurs are interested in Lyon’s Ndombele.
The 21 year-old midfielder is still technically an Amiens player, but Lyon are expected to make his loan deal permanent for €8m (£7m) this summer, and could look to cash in almost immediately after his breakout season.
Grealish has been reported as a top target for Pochettino for quite some time now, with Sky Sports even claiming a bid was made this week.
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Both youngsters are fantastic with the ball at their feet, and both of them love driving forward from midfield.
They are also both a little raw when it comes to end product, which is something Pochettino will happily fix.
Where Ndombele stands out though is his defensive capabilities, averaging 1.9 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game with Lyon last season (Grealish averaged 1.3 and 0.5 respectively).
It seems unlikely that Daniel Levy and Spurs will opt to sign both players, unless Victor Wanyama follows Dembele out the exit door, so which one would fans rather sign?
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Ndombele, valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, is a much more rounded player, and has more experience at the highest level, but Villa’s Grealish has already proved he has the physicality to compete in England, and is the type of personality that fans will love for the exact same reasons they love Dele Alli.
So, Tottenham fans, if you only bring in one midfielder this summer, which would you rather sign? Let us know by voting in the poll below…