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Lots of Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to reveal their love for VAR, after it stopped more fuel being added to the agenda against Wilfried Zaha for diving.

The Ivory Coast international was booked for simulation by Martin Atkinson against the Gunners after he was upended by Calum Chambers, although VAR helped to overturn the decision – Zaha’s yellow was retracted, and a penalty was awarded.

Luka Milivojevic converted the spot-kick, but a lot of Palace fans on Twitter have pointed out how the technology has helped Zaha’s reputation on this occasion, whereas in the past, a lack of VAR has created an unwanted opinion of the forward.

The Palace No.11 is arguably one of the trickiest players in the league – he is fouled 3.3 times per game – and the reputation he has picked up does seem an unfair one at times.

On this occasion, the newly-implemented technology has stopped that reputation becoming even stronger.

Let’s take a look at what the Palace supporters have been saying…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

He’s made an impression, now time to see if he can turn it into being someone who can’t be dropped.

Former Forest man Kenny Burns believes that Tiago Silva can be a driving force for Nottingham Forest this season, having put in a really impressive performance away at Kenilworth Road.

What’s he said?

Speaking in his usual column for Nottinghamshire Live, Burns pointed out that Silva brings something different to the game, making comparisons with his compatriot Joao Carvalho.

“He has a greater impact on the game and not only is he much more consistent than Joao Carvalho, he’s also got a tackle in him, unlike his compatriot. If you didn’t know that one of the Portuguese lads cost £13m and the other didn’t, you’d think it was Silva – he’s a different class.”

Find out what happened when a world-record-holding freestyler attempting skills with the worst pair of boots available on eBay in the video below…

Constant chopping and changing

It’s true that Silva had a good game against Luton Town, completing 26 passes for an average of 84% (via WhoScored), but he is just one example that if someone is good enough to be in the team, they need to stay there.

He has played in all 14 games for Forest this season, but only starting eight of them. The problem with Forest is that there doesn’t seem to be one set team. They have only named an unchanged team once this season, and that was for the first two games of the campaign against West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United.

Whether it be a small change like who plays on the right-hand side between Albert Adomah or Joe Lolley, or major changes like switching formations from his 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 hybrid to more of a 4-4-2, there is always something up the Frenchman’s sleeve to keep the opponents and to an extent those associated with the club as well guessing.

Whilst those methods seemed to work very much in his favour during their ten-game unbeaten run, it’s a system that can’t be sustainable through the season. This article from FourFourTwo in the wake of Leicester winning the title back in 2015/16 laid out precisely why keeping the same eleven can be a huge benefit to a side.

Eventually, Lamouchi has got to come up with his best side, and get a settled one together. A change every now and then is fine to deal with injuries/suspensions/rest, but to do it every week would just be asking too much of the players.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It’ll all come down to what’s more important to Chris Wilder.

According to a report from Football Insider, Sheffield United are looking into the possibility of signing Jack Rodwell. The 28-year-old is a free agent having been released by Blackburn Rovers in the summer, and has recently been on trial with AS Roma.

Although he has spent most of his career as a midfielder, the report states that Blades boss Wilder is intending to use him as a central defender. But just how does he shape up in comparison to the rest of his potential future teammates?

Find out which Premier League newcomer is a future England boss in the making in the video below…

On the chalkboard

If he is going to be brought in as a centre-back rather than a midfielder where he has spent the majority of his career, the first port of call should be his defensive capabilities.

The current backline at Sheffield United consists of John Egan, Chris Basham and Jack O’Connell, but given their ages, it’s more than likely that Basham would be the one to make way for Rodwell should the deal go through, so we’re going to focus on that, just as we did when the Joe Rodon rumours were circulating.

Rodwell averages 1.3 tackles a game, 0.7 interceptions and 0.4 blocks per game, via WhoScored.

If you compare those numbers to those of Basham’s averages of 2.3, 1.6 and 0.5 and you can see quite clearly that Rodwell falls well short when put up against him.

The one area the three-cap international does come up trumps against the incumbent defender though is his passing ability, with a career passing percentage of 80.2%, which is far and away better than Basham’s 68.2% so far this season.

So if the deal goes through, Wilder will be given a bit of a conundrum to deal with. Will he sacrifice Basham’s defensive capabilities in order to accommodate Rodwell’s ability to keep the ball, or will he prioritise keeping the ball out of the back of the net?

Loads of Manchester City fans have taken to social media to tear into Ilkay Gundogan for his performance against Liverpool, as Pep Guardiola’s side were beaten at Anfield on Sunday.

Supporters were left frustrated by Gundogan’s role in the result, as many felt the German was somewhat responsible for each of Liverpool’s three goals and suggested that his general play in both offence and defence were not at the standard required.

Gundogan had a direct hand in Liverpool’s opening goals, as the £140,000-per-week midfielder’s poor clearance fell directly to the feat of Fabinho, who fired home a rocket from 25-yards out.

He then offered no defensive press as Liverpool looked to advance into Man City’s defensive half in the build-up to Mohamed Salah doubling the host’s lead, as Gundogan drifted around the centre of the field without any serious intent.

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Gundogan did himself no favours in the eyes of some Citizens for Liverpool’s third, either, as the 29-year-old stopped tracking Jordan Henderson back before the England midfielder delivered the perfectly-weighted cross for Sadio Mane to head home at the back post.

Gelsenkirchen-born Gundogan would see out the full 90 minutes despite the frustrations of some fans, in which he lost possession seven times, recorded no interceptions, was dribbled past four times and failed to find the target with any of his shots recorded by Sofa Score.

He did complete 91% of his passes played, though, and registered three key balls, which was the joint-most by any player for either side.

Here are some of the messages shared from Man City fans unimpressed by Gundogan’s efforts at Anfield as they were beaten 3-1…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Everton boss Marco Silva has praised his men for their newly found form against Southampton before the international break.

What did he say?

The Toffees have shown a slight revival in their season over the past few weeks, drawing against Tottenham Hotspur and beating Southampton to edge six points clear of the relegation zone.

In light of their recent form, the Blues boss has reminded critics of how he stated his side would react to the defeat against Burnley.

Now, with three wins in five games, it seems the Portuguese has done just that.

Silva told evertonfc.com: “It is turning – and that is what we wanted.

“Before the [October] international break, when we lost how we did at Burnley, I told people we would react, for sure and we reacted.

“It is good to see our players getting more mature and being stronger in their personalities.

“We played five games… and we could possibly be talking here about four wins and one draw. This is the reality.

“We could be talking about how the team reacted so strongly and showed the capacity we have.

“We know why in the previous [away] game [at Brighton] we did not win and we could be in a completely different position in the table.”

A sudden change

Everton have had a bit of a turn around in their form across the pitch. The likes of Tom Davies have seemingly come into their own lately, with a goal and commanding display against Southampton.

Plus, key players such as Richarlison now have five goals and two assists across the board and are flourishing at the moment. Elsewhere, Cenk Tosun has added to the positivity with his late goal against Spurs before starting in the victory at St Mary’s.

Then there is the fantastic form of Mason Holgate, who has pushed the struggling Michael Keane out of the side. Holgate has two assists and a goal, plus a clean sheet in the EFL Cup over the past month.

It seems there has been a rather sudden change in form for Everton and the signs are certainly positive right now.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Sheffield Wednesday’s season could well be over already.

On Thursday afternoon, the EFL charged the club with financial misconduct after they sold their Hillsborough stadium to owner Dejphon Chansiri in order to offset debts in the 2017/18 season.

The move handed the Owls a pre-tax profit of £2.5m that year, but they broke league regulations to do so.

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Wednesday have since released a statement claiming they will contest the charges, and although no punishment has been set in stone, it seems somewhat likely that the club are made an example of.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes the most likely consequence will be at the very minimum a 12 point deduction, but no timeframe has been set on that.

If they were to be faced with such a penalty today, sitting eighth on 25 points, they would slip to the edge of the relegation zone on goal difference with 13 points.

And if Maguire is right, they could see even more deducted, which would undoubtedly leave them in a battle to save their Championship status.

What a sheer contrast that would be as the club are currently a mere three points off being back in playoff contention.

But thankfully, they have a manager in charge that knows the situation all too well as Garry Monk was in charge of Birmingham City when they were slapped with a nine-point deduction back in March.

Their form after the news should offer serious encouragement to fans in south Yorkshire as the 40-year-old is the perfect man to keep them safe on the pitch for the foreseeable future.

In the eight games played post-deduction, the Blues managed to lose just one game, and at the end of the season, they should have been three places better off.

To only keel over in one match speaks volumes to Monk’s man-management abilities, so Wednesday are in a safe pair of hands for sure.

They even beat Owls’ Yorkshire rivals Leeds United in that run.

If there is to be one positive from this scenario, it is the fact that the club has a shining light in Monk – without him, their future prospects would look rather dismal.

Charlton Athletic succumbed to a draw in Saturday’s early kickoff as Cardiff City mounted a second-half comeback to salvage a point at The Valley.

Lee Bowyer’s men went into the break two goals to the good after loan duo Conor Gallagher and Jonathan Leko scored, but the visitors found a way back in the second period with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing first netting a goal to set up a nervy finish before substitute Lee Tomlin fired home the equaliser in the 73rd minute.

The Addicks have been rife with injury lately, and the treatment table is only getting worse after this match.

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Erhun Oztumer played most of the final 45 with a knock, and his determination to help the team, alongside his performance, has been singled out by sections of the Charlton support.

One fan called him ‘our very own Messi,’ claiming the midfielder had the best game of his Valley career to date, which was backed up by another who brandished him as a ‘little wizard.’

‘Unplayable’ and ‘class’ were just two other words used to describe his showing while a further supporter believed the 28-year-old tore Cardiff’s defence apart.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

Leeds United fans have been heaping praise upon Alfie McCalmont after he played a brilliant through ball for Jordan Stevens’ goal in Leeds U23s’ 2-0 win against Wigan.

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It really is a joke of a pass as he unlocks the defence with a beautifully disguised through ball that allowed Stevens a clear look at goal.

Supporters couldn’t help but wax lyrical about the midfielder’s contribution here, and you can’t blame them as the pass really was reminiscent of something a Barcelona player would do rather than a Leeds U23 man.

Hopefully, this isn’t the last time we see the youngster playing balls like this, and if he carries on this form it surely won’t be long until he’s doing it at Elland Road for the first team.

The youngster has had a breakthrough campaign, earning his debut for Northern Ireland and playing the Carabao Cup as well.

Here’s what United supporters have been saying on social media…

In other news, have a look at what Leeds fans have been saying about a signing they missed out on earlier this year.

Signed from then UEFA Cup winners Porto in a £6.25m deal back in the summer of 2003, Helder Postiga certainly arrived in north London with a burgeoning reputation in European football.

The Portuguese marksman was only 20 at the time, and had just come off the back of a campaign that had seen him score 19 goals across all competitions, and helped fire his team to European glory.

Speaking after the confirmation of his signing, then Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle waxed lyrical about his latest recruit. He said: “He is a player who will add definite striking quality to our squad and is a young player of proven ability. I’m sure our supporters will enjoy watching him over the coming seasons.”

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Even Daniel Levy got in on the act of talking up what it meant to the club, and backed Postiga to deliver for the Lilywhites over the coming seasons. He added: “This exciting signing demonstrates our commitment to increasing the strength and quality of our playing squad and will hopefully assist us in our quest for success next season and beyond.”

But in the end, Postiga’s signing quickly turned into a nightmare for Levy and co. He made just 23 appearances in total for the north Londoners, scoring a measly two goals – only one of them even came in the Premier League.

In fact, just over a year later, Spurs had seemingly had enough, and decided to simply cut their losses on the striker, and send him packing. His former side Porto came back in for him for just £5m, meaning the north London side took a loss on him.

Following the decision to sell him, Spurs sporting director Frank Arnesen admitted that perhaps the club had made a mistake in bringing him to English football in the first place. He said: “There is no doubting Helder’s ability but maybe he came to the Premiership too soon. He was keen to return home and, although we rate him highly here, we did not like to see him unhappy.”

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After no doubt thinking they had signed a young striker who could lead their line for the years to come, Spurs were left to tuck their tail in between their legs and wave goodbye to one of their biggest flops in recent memory.

Meanwhile, Alasdair Gold offers a Spurs transfer update.

Newcastle United’s prospective takeover has run into a hitch this week, and supporters at St James’ Park have been going crazy over the news.

The Telegraph’s chief football correspondent Jason Burt revealed that there were delays to the £300m deal due to BeIN Sports’ objection over alleged piracy of Premier League games.

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It’s claimed that this is the only hurdle to overcome after paperwork was submitted to the Premier League over three weeks ago. Burt also believes that it shouldn’t prevent the takeover from happening, but there’s an acceptance that has ‘undoubtedly complicated matters.’

And the Magpies faithful have been reacting to the revelation on social media this week.

Many are eager to see Mike Ashley end his 13-year tenure in charge of the club with Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium leading the charge – a genuine one at long last.

Although the wait for confirmation could rumble on for another week or two given Burt’s claim.

Here’s how fans have been reacting to the news…

AND in other news, Chris Waugh issues encouraging update over Newcastle takeover…