Time was ticking away on John Dyche’s career after Boxing Day 2018. Following three consecutive losses, including a crushing 1-5 home loss to Everton, his six-year reign seemed to be over. However, rather than making a rash decision, the club decided to give his first-in-command more time to turn things around.
Well, hasn’t he done so magnificently? After the boxing day loss to Everton, The Clarets are now unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games. Not only have they managed to defeat the lower-table teams they initially struggled against, but they’ve also taken points from the big guns.
In the space of a few months, Dyche’s managed to reform the Burnley of old, which had managed a stunning seventh place finish under him last season. Lady Luck played in his favour as well. The injuries calmed down, key players returned and the back-to-back losses propelled Dyche into giving his players a reality check, therefore reigniting their flame.
Burnley have only conceded seven goals in eight games, winning five and drawing three since that Boxing Day humiliation. Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes have created nightmares for oppositions’ defences with their physicality and chemistry, contributing in 10 out of their 14 goals scored in the unbeaten run.
Tom Heaton’s inspired work in goal reinvigorated Burnley’s defenders to retain their rock-solid nature, reigniting the Clarets mean defensive reputation. Garlick’s decision to keep faith in Dyche’s worked wonders and the likes of Chelsea and Everton should monitor Burnley’s revival before sacking their own managers.
It’s become clear that, at least sometimes, patience is the answer.
Sheffield United failed to move into the automatic promotion places on Monday night as they could only secure a goalless draw against their bitter rivals Sheffield Wednesday in the Steel City derby at Hillsborough.
Chris Wilder’s side were by far the more aggressive, and played on the front foot throughout. However, Steve Bruce’s Owls defended diligently, and as such the likes of Billy Sharp and Gary Madine failed to really threaten the opposition.
The Bramall Lane club have now lost the initiative in the Championship promotion race, with Leeds United and Norwich City still ahead of them. However, there’s still plenty of football to be played.
Did Chris Wilder get it wrong in the Steel City derby? Check out the thoughts of Ingood Nick below…
If Wilder’s side are to get back into an automatic promotion spot though they have to show more penetration and incision than they did on Monday. In order to provide the injection of creativity they need, Mark Duffy should come back into the starting XI. The 33-year-old midfielder has been benched for the Blades’ last two games with Kieran Dowell preferred.
Plenty of United fans want the Liverpool-born man back in the side. After the derby disappointment, lots of supporters took to Twitter to appeal for Duffy to come back into the fold…
Plenty of Aston Villa fans have taken part in a debate via Twitter on who they think has been the club’s worst ever player.
Villa’s Premier League safety is currently a big concern for fans of the club, but with football at a current standstill, those fans have been able to take their mind off the club’s current league standing of 19th.
A play-off final win over Derby County saw the Claret and Blue side gain promotion to England’s top flight, and focus will very much be on boss Dean Smith to improve results when and if, football returns.
Involving themselves in club debates via social media, fans have now taken part in a question that sparked numerous responses about who they thought has been the worst player to play for the club in recent years.
Countless names were mentioned with the likes of Bosko Balaban, Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater all mentioned.
The latter arrived at Villa Park in January on loan from Premier League rivals Chelsea, but he struggled to find the form which saw him help Leicester City win the league title in 2015/2016.
Reacting to the question posed by Twitter account @VillaTil1die, multiple fans took part in the debate…
Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Villa discussion going on in the Vital Villa Forum! Click here to get involved!
Wolves’ poor run of form in the Premier League continued at the weekend as Manchester United held them at Old Trafford in a dull stalemate.
Nuno Santo’s side have now won just one of their last six outings, a spell that has seen them drop to eighth in the table, two points from Spurs in fifth.
The Portuguese boss made two changes with Willy Boly returning in defence for Leander Dendoncker and Diogo Jota replacing Pedro Neto, whilst new signing Daniel Podence was named on the bench.
On the Chalkboard
It was the first time since the Southampton game in October that the 6 foot 5 colossus has featured in the old gold shirt, having faced a spell on the sidelines after fracturing his fibula in training.
And he made an immediate impact, ending Wolves’ run without a clean sheet.
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The 29-year-old started on the right side of a back three, which also contained skipped Conor Coady and Romain Saiss, as the trio stopped the rot of conceding goals for the first time in nine matches.
Per SofaScore, Boly recorded four clearances, four interceptions, two tackles and won 100% of his aerial duels, so there’s no denying that his presence has helped contribute to a point at United.
Despite being absent for the best part three to four months, the Frenchman still ranks second for WhoScored rating in the Wolves squad at 7.34, only bettered by Adama Traore’s 7.75, and no player has surpassed his aerial duels won per game either (4.6).
Life after football: Do you know what all of these former players did next?
His towering presence in the heart of defence clearly makes a difference – in his absence in the top-flight they have kept just two clean sheets in 16 matches whilst that rises to three in nine with him in the starting XI, per Transfermarkt.
Nuno will be glad that his £13.5m-rated powerhouse back out there with the Europa League knockout stages soon on the horizon.
And in other news, Wolves fans have been naming their price for this Nuno signing…
According to The Telegraph, Sheffield Wednesday’s on-loan striker Jordan Rhodes has said that he wants to remain at Norwich.
The 28-year-old was loaned to The Canaries at the beginning of the season, but that has backfired given the success that the club are having at Carrow Road this season.
Rhodes has played 25 times for The Canaries this season scoring six times, although primarily from the bench. This is not even a particularly good return for a striker in the Championship.
However, the fact that Norwich are in a great position to secure promotion to the Premier League raises the question as to why the Scotland international would ever want to return to Hillsborough. Of course, they have Steve Bruce’s imminent arrival at the club, which should help, but that would surely not outweigh the prospect of being part of a promotion-winning team.
Wednesday have very little they can offer Rhodes now; they can only force him to return at the end of the season. But the club would not want to keep him if he does not want to remain. With the club in such turmoil at the moment, it would almost be unfair to force the player to stay.
While most teams would loan a player to a club below them, in order to gain match practice, The Owls have let Rhodes go to a club significantly above them, and, as a result, may pay the price in losing him. They will likely rue this mistake come next season.
Loads of West Ham fans have been reacting to their defeat to Tottenham, and they’re absolutely furious with big summer signing Felipe Anderson.
West Ham fans were delighted when they finally signed Anderson this summer, as the Brazilian has a superb mixture of speed, vision and technical ability.
The 25 year-old seems to have serious consistency problems though, as every good performance comes sandwiched between two poor ones.
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The Hammers played relatively well against Tottenham, especially in the second half, but Anderson had one of his worst performances of the season.
After a lovely goal against Manchester United before the international break, the winger struggled to make any impact on the game.
He touched the ball just 34 times during the match, managing one shot, zero key passes and zero successful dribbles.
Fans expect to see much more from a player who cost the club a whopping £36m, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
It is understood Crystal Palace have had an initial £11m bid for Cheikhou Kouyate rejected by the London Stadium outfit, West Ham.
The Irons have seen swathes of new talent enter the London Stadium this summer. This likely means players such as Kouyate will not see much first team football. Nevertheless, it seems West Ham value the player at higher than the £11m the Eagles bid. With the lack of midfielders at Crystal Palace, it is likely they will not give up easily on their target.
Palace are badly in need of players after a slow start to the transfer window. Fans of the South London club will want to avoid a repeat of the beginning of last season, where a lack of additions saw them fall to seven straight Premier League defeats.
Whilst Palace’s squad needs additions, West Ham United’s arguably needs streamlining. Seven senior players have so far arrived in East London, featuring the likes of Jack Wilshere and Felipe Anderson.
Due to the quality of the squad at West Ham, some of their more fringe squad players need to move on from the club for the good of their careers.
With that in mind, here are two West Ham United players who should follow Kouyate to South London if he does leave the London Stadium…
Thin on the ground with wingers, after Bakary Sako has left Selhurst Park, Snodgrass would be a great addition for the Eagles.
The Eagles have been linked with West Ham winger Michail Antonio throughout this window. Antonio would not be a bad addition for the SE25 outfit, but Snodgrass would be better as he would add a new dynamic to the side. Palace already have options with pace out wide, with Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend.
Snodgrass would add a set-piece specialism to the club. He has a great passing range and intensity to his game. Spending last season on loan at Championship Aston Villa shows he is not an asset the Hammers will battle too hard to keep hold of.
Oxford’s progression will slow down if he doesn’t move to Selhurst Park. There is such talent at West Ham United that the 18-year-old is unlikely to get a look-in.
Crystal Palace would be the perfect location for Reece Oxford to further his career. The South Londoners have brought through the likes of Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha and recently Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He has had successive loan spells with Borussia Monchengladbach, but it must be regular Premier League football the youngster craves.
Roy Hodgson has shown he is willing to give young players a chance. For first team action, Selhurst Park would be a great move for the young Oxford.
There is just one final game to get through before Liverpool can finally say for certain that they’ll be in this season’s Champions League group stages.
It’s been on the cards since their final day victory over relegated Middlesbrough confirmed that the Reds would finish in the Premier League’s top four, although the idea of losing in the play-off round was never really mooted seriously. Since the start of the summer, the accepted interpretation of the state of play has been very simple: Liverpool are in the Champions League.
And yet, given the emphatic feeling around Liverpool’s participation in the top European competition, there doesn’t seem to have been much urgency to create a squad strong enough to compete on more fronts than they did last season.
Whatever happens in tomorrow night’s game against Hoffenheim, Liverpool will be in Europe. Perhaps, then, the club should have been thinking about adding more to the squad than just Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson and Dominic Solanke. Though perhaps it’s victory over the Germans and a place in the group stages which is necessary in order to attract the right players.
Last week’s victory over Hoffenheim saw Trent Alexander-Arnold star in the victory in Germany with a solid performance at right back and a stunning free kick. But on the other side of the Reds’ defence was Alberto Moreno, long outcast from the team last season after some poor performances and a penchant for getting caught in attacking positions without a care for his defensive positioning.
And that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season. Andrew Robertson has arrived from Hull City and took Moreno’s place on Saturday against Crystal Palace, whilst Alexander-Arnold has been tipped to push Nathaniel Clyne for a place in the starting XI once the England international is back from injury. But neither are full-backs with Champions League experience.
Indeed, Liverpool currently look to be in a similar position to Chelsea.
Whereas the champions seem to have exchanged some of their players for new players (Costa for Morata, Matic for Bakayoko), Liverpool have at least made their squad stronger. Getting rid only of Lucas Leiva and bringing in two new players – three if you count Solanke, though it remains to be seen how much game time the former Chelsea youngster will get – means that the squad is stronger than it was when the season ended, but it doesn’t seem obviously strong enough to deal with the demands of a challenge on the domestic fronts plus a Champions League campaign.
Like Chelsea’s, Liverpool’s summer business doesn’t look like enough in the face of the extra games.
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It’s also true that Liverpool’s squad needed strengthening whether there was European football or not. Last season’s fourth place should represent a decent season, though it will seem like a reasonably disappointing one given that, in January, Jurgen Klopp’s side were the ones challenging Chelsea for the title, as well as still fighting in both domestic competitions.
Their collapse after Sadio Mane’s departure to the African Cup of Nations and other various niggling injuries throughout the squad mean that whatever happened, they needed more strength in depth. The arrival of Salah addresses one of these issues, but apart from that, more is needed.
There’s still time left for new players to be added, of course. And the Champions League draw might focus minds. From Liverpool’s point of view as well as that of the prospective players who might be further enticed by Champions League football when the draw makes it all seem that bit more real. But at this point, it looks as though Liverpool are more worried about losing Philippe Coutinho than buying others.
At this point, all of the transfer sagas surrounding Anfield look unsolved. Coutinho looks like he’ll stay, but that could certainly change. Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita both look like they’ll stay at their respective clubs, too. And so Liverpool are left needing players without any time left to make the right purchases.
And there’s the problem: Liverpool are short, especially with the extra European games, but they also shouldn’t panic buy just in order to have more players to cope with demand.
Like Chelsea, this is something of a strange position for them to be in given they knew about the extra games months ago.
As reported by The Sunday Post, Rangers have identified the man they want to play a key role in taking the club forward in the wake of Mark Warburton’s departure as manager.
What’s the story?
After back-to-back defeats in the Scottish Premiership to Dundee and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the situation at Rangers is becoming urgent. Under-20s coach Graeme Murty has been tasked with taking the team forward on a caretaker basis following Warburton’s exit but lacks experience and isn’t getting results.
However, the situation may start to look a little bright for Rangers supporters over the next week as the Light Blues’ hierarchy appear to have made a decision on who they want to fill a vital post.
Ross Wilson is Southampton’s Director of Scouting and he’s the man Rangers want to fill their newly created Director of Football post at the club, according to The Sunday Post.
While not directly a manager or coach, it should at least offer some extra footballing expertise to the leadership at the club and impact directly on the first team.
The report says that the announcement could be made in a matter of days after Wilson requested time to consult with his current club after today’s EFL Cup Final against Manchester United.
Is this the right direction for the club or should they have employed a traditional manager? Time will tell on that front but at least for Rangers supporters progress is being made in some form.
Welcome to another edition of Fantasy Premier League Forecasting Good Fixtures, in which we look forward to see which teams have a rather enticing run of games in their upcoming schedule.
After last week’s epic three games in the last seven days, a lot has changed in the English top flight, with Leicester City STILL leading the pack by five points after their win versus Watford on Saturday.
Not to mention, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal shared the spoils in an exciting North London Derby, but the result greatly hurt their chances of the title.
However, this week has four games less compared to the usual schedule (unless Hull beat Arsenal to make it five games less), and there are likely to be some shopping and changing to fill your respective absentees.
This list will not include any club that will play in the FA Cup this weekend to avoid letting you draft in someone that won’t feature!
Leicester City
Leicester City are not only shockingly top of the Premier League table after their efficient 1-0 win over Watford, but they also have a decent run of games heading into the tail end of the season.
This means that it is almost practically essential to own Riyad Mahrez (7.3) and Jamie Vardy (7.8), while any of their defenders are a good pick due to their seven clean sheets in their last 11 games.
Newcastle United (Home), Crystal Palace (Away), Southampton (Home), and Sunderland (Away) are up next for Claudio Ranieiri’s men, who are now favourites to win the league title.
Manchester City
One of the teams that will challenge Leicester City till the very end will by Manchester City, who may be trailing the Foxes by 10 points, but they have a game in hand that could prove decisive in the race for the title.
And their run of games seem to be in their favour as well, with Norwich (Away), Man United (Home), Bournemouth (Away), and West Brom (Home) coming up in their next four. The Citizens are usually strong against the smaller clubs, and with qualification to the Champions League quarter-finals virtually sealed after their 3-1 away win, expect Manuel Pellegrini to push their focus on the Premier League.
Sergio Aguero (13.6) and one of David Silva (9.9) or Yaya Toure (8.5) should greatly be considered, with the trio all amongst the points in their 4-0 victory over Aston Villa the previous gameweek.
Tottenham Hotspur
And last but not least in Forecasting Good Fixtures are Tottenham Hotspur, who are also in the hunt for the title and have a decent fixture list ahead of them.
You may think we’re biasing the list towards the current Top Four, but when you have games against Aston Villa (Away) and Bournemouth (Home) coming next it’s hard to argue. After that, it becomes a little more difficult for the Lilywhites but Liverpool (Away) have been conceding goals somewhat easily this term and Manchester United (Home) are not the powerhouse of the past.
Harry Kane (10.1) will be in buoyant mood after his wonder-strike against Arsenal last time out, while Christian Eriksen (8.6) and Dele Alli (6.0) are the stand-out midfield options for this period. Their defenders are also scoring well, with Toby Alderweireld (6.4) the elite pick of the bunch but it’s Kevin Wimmer (4.6) that offers the most value.