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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…

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…

Former Everton midfielder Don Hutchison reacted quickly and made his feelings clear on Twitter on Tuesday night following the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti by Napoli.

What did he say?

Despite the problems behind the scenes, the Italian was perhaps surprisingly relieved of his duties by the Serie A outfit despite overseeing a 4-0 Champions League success against Genk that guaranteed their progress through to the knockout stages of the competition.

Hutchison quoted the news on Twitter and wrote: “He wants Arsenal but go on Everton”.

The former Scotland international may get his wish too, with The Telegraph reporting that the 60-year-old is now the Merseyside’s first-choice to replace Marco Silva and take over from caretaker boss Duncan Ferguson.

Could they really get him?

It would surely take some persuading given he has been managing one of the best clubs in Italy and one that has been competing in the Champions League, but if Ancelotti is open to the prospect of returning to the Premier League then the Toffees are certainly a viable option.

Did he play for Everton? Simple question but a lot tougher than you think…

Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has shown that he isn’t afraid to spend money in the transfer market, which would suggest that the experienced Italian, who won the Premier League title with Chelsea in 2010, would be backed when it comes to bringing in new players too.

Meanwhile, any worries that Arsenal could want him – as Hutchison indicates – may have been quashed already by the reliable David Ornstein, who suggests the 60-year-old isn’t the profile of manager they are looking for in their search for Unai Emery’s successor.

That could leave Everton with something of a straight run to Ancelotti then, and he would have to be seen as an exciting appointment.

In other Everton news, Paul Joyce has suggested the club is “on the brink” of appointing a 56-year-old as their new manager…

Everton find themselves in a bit of trouble at the moment. The Toffees suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of Norwich last week and it’s led to the pressure being heaped upon Marco Silva with the team sitting in 16th.

The managerial speculation has been the talk of the town amongst Toffees supporters as they’ve seen a variety of figures linked to the club.

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Mikel Arteta is one of the names in the hat, as is Eddie Howe. However, it’s speculation surrounding David Moyes that has led to an attack on Chairman Bill Kenwright.

Football Insider laid down claims that Farhad Moshiri was not in favour of Moyes returning but that Kenwright was.

One fan claimed he should be removed from his role at the club while a further individual went as far as suggesting he was the biggest problem at Goodison Park.

Another supporter labelled him the celebrator of mediocrity, seemingly annoyed by Kenwright’s lack of ambition in their pursuit of Silva’s successor.

The 74-year-old has been at Everton since 2004 but it appears as though fans are desperate to see him finally leave Merseyside.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

In other news, check out what Eddie Howe said about speculation linking with the Everton job…

يستعد الفريق الأول لكرة بالنادي الأهلي لمواجهة نظيره غزل المحلة اليوم الإثنين في إطار مباريات الدوري المصري الممتاز.

الأهلي يحل ضيفًا ثقيلًا على نظيره غزل المحلة في المباراة التي تقام على استاد المحلة في إطار مباريات الجولة التاسعة عشر من المسابقة الأكبر محليًا.

طالع | تشكيل الأهلي أمام غزل المحلة في الدوري.. عودة السولية وبيكهام ظهير أيسر

ويتواجد الأهلي في وصافة جدول ترتيب الدوري المصري برصيد 37 نقطة، فيما يحل غزل المحلة في المرتبة الحادية عشر برصيد 24 نقطة.

مباشر بالفيديو | مباراة الأهلي وغزل المحلة في الدوري

ويشهد تشكيل الأهلي المتوقع تواجد ياسر إبراهيم أساسيًا، فيما يفاضل الجنوب إفريقي بيتسو موسيماني المدير الفني بين الثنائي أليو ديانج وأكرم توفيق في خط الوسط. تشكيل الأهلي المتوقع أمام غزل المحلة:

حراسة المرمى: محمد الشناوي.

خط الدفاع: محمد هاني، رامي ربيعة، ياسر إبراهيم، أحمد نبيل كوكا.

خط الوسط: عمرو السولية، أكرم توفيق “أليو ديانج”، محمد مجدي أفشة، حسين الشحات، طاهر محمد طاهر.

خط الهجوم: محمد شريف.

كشفت تقارير صحفية إنجليزية تواجد جوزيه مورينيو المدرب السابق لفريق توتنهام ضمن المرشحين لتدريب سلتيك، بداية من الموسم المقبل.

وكان توتنهام قد أعلن أمس الأول الاستغناء عن خدمات مورينيو لسوء النتائج هذا الموسم.

وأكد مورينيو أنه لا يحتاج إلى الحصول على قسط من الراحة لاتخاذ خطوته التالية في مسيرته المهنية (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).

وحسب صحيفة “ذا صن” الإنجليزية، فإن مورينيو يتواجد ضمن المرشحين لتدريب سلتيك الأسكتلندي.

وتقدم نيل لينون باستقالته من منصبه كمدرب لسلتيك في الشهر الماضي، ليتولى جون كينيدي مسؤولية الفريق بشكل مؤقت.

وأشارت الصحيفة إلى أن إدارة سلتيك وضعت مورينيو ضمن الخيارات المتاحة لديها لتدريب الفريق في الموسم القادم.

وأوضحت أن هناك مرشحين آخرين لتدريب سلتيك، مثل إيدي هاو الذي يُعد المرشح الأوفر حظًا لتدريب الفريق.

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

A question that has reared its ugly head in the past few months of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at Manchester United, is the Norwegian good enough tactically? After all, the man who got Cardiff relegated, succeeded Jose Mourinho – the ultimate mastermind when it comes to setting teams up.

But against Liverpool on Sunday, the Red Devils boss more than held his own against Jurgen Klopp and sprung a major tactical surprise by opting to go for a 5-3-2 formation – a real change-up from the more traditional 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 set-ups we have seen from United since Solskjaer took over. If anything, it completely upset the visitors’ game-plan, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in particular often being caught in no-mans land with their positioning.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

In the end, United could only hold on for a draw as Adam Lallana netted a late equaliser. But it was a performance that no doubt gave great encouragement to the players and the manager that they can compete with some of the best teams in the league.

However, the formation does come with a curse. Sunday’s approach was designed to stifle the Reds’ greatest attacking threats, chiefly from the wide areas. It didn’t particularly do much in the way of getting the likes of Marcus Rashford and Daniel James chance after chance – the duo had just two attempts on goal in the entire game.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Anthony Martial’s return from injury gives Solskjaer a reinforcement in the number nine role, but in this system, where would the Frenchman fit? The success of United’s game-plan on Sunday revolved around Rashford and James doing the dirty work off the ball, and running into the channels and making life difficult for the Liverpool centre-backs.

Case in point, Rashford’s lung-busting chase of a long ball that eventually saw him bully Virgil van Dijk. For all of Martial’s technical quality, would he offer the same defensive output? It therefore leaves the United manager with the big conundrum of having to leave one of his most prolific strikers out. Because quite simply, how do you go away from a formation that served you so well against the reigning Champions League holders and a team that had gone flawless in the Premier League?

Essentially, Solskjaer’s own tactical masterclass has backed him into a corner. Whilst it may have solved a huge problem on Sunday, it now raises further questions that need answering.

Newcastle United are an absolute enigma.The Magpies are often heralded as one of the biggest clubs in the country, but they’ve not won a single piece of silverware since the 1969 European Fairs Cup – no, we aren’t counting the Championship title.Watch Newcastle United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

This becomes even more embarrassing when you have a look at a recently-created animated graph documenting net spend throughout Premier League history.

It becomes clear very quickly that the Tyneside outfit were right up there with the big spenders in the late 1990s, yet they have absolutely nothing to show for it.

The club were smashing the world transfer record for Alan Shearer as well as spending £8m on Duncan Ferguson, which was a lot of money back then.

The Magpies dominated the net spend charts until around the year 2000, when they were finally overtaken by Liverpool. However, while Liverpool would go on to win a treble in 2001, United’s trophy cabinet remained barren.

It only gets worse from there. Mike Ashley may have been demonised by the fanbase, but the club are still the ninth highest net spenders in league history to this day, yet somehow they managed to get relegated twice during this time despite not once leaving the top ten list.

This graph has caused a lot of conversation on Twitter around a number of fanbases, but surely it’s Newcastle fans that should be the most alarmed by its results.

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Leeds came away with a 2-0 victory from Oakwell on Sunday as Eddie Nketiah and Mateusz Klich were on the scoresheet against Barnsley.

However, before the match even kicked off there was a rather comical moment in the tunnel surrounding the regular joker of the pack, Ezgjan Alioski.

In a video posted on Twitter, the North Macedonian can be seen teasing a former Leeds man in Aapo Halme.

Halme left Elland Road over the summer and was making his first appearance against his ex-employers but couldn’t get the best of his old teammates.

Alioski’s words in the tunnel provoked quite the reaction from Leeds fans on Twitter who were all quick to throw love his way.

One said that was the reason they got him on the back of their shirt while a further individual suggested he was an absolute nutter.

Another fan went as far as saying they wanted to name their child after him.

The left-sided player has played six times in the Championship this term, scoring once in the process and has since cemented his place over Barry Douglas.

Not many coaches would want to be in Zinedine Zidane’s shoes right about now. Sure, being at the helm of one of the biggest teams on the planet sounds like a lot of fun but the Frenchman would probably pull out all of his hair at the moment, if he had any left, that is.

Judging by how their pre-season went and how they ended their 2018/19 campaign with defeat after defeat, it was easy to predict the same trends would continue in 2019/20. But they didn’t so far. Or they kind of didn’t, at the very least.

A win and a draw in the first two games is hardly the end of the world but seeing how every new day seems to bring new injuries to Los Blancos, if they continue like this they just might field their Castilla team come the latter stages of the season. And this is what most likely worries Zidane the most.

With six players already out for a while, it’s fair to say that he is very much right to be at least a tiny bit concerned about the whole situation. And to make matters even worse, or better, depending on how you look at it, most of the injured players are actually left-wingers on paper.

This means that Real Madrid will be short on wide players but it also means that they mostly have to worry about how to compensate for the absence of options in just one single area. Besides, not every left-winger in the squad is out injured.

As a matter of fact, Zidane has one more option that he should definitely keep in mind for this weekend’s clash and that’s his young Brazilian talisman, Vinicius Junior. With so many players out of commission for this game on the weekend, the wisest thing for Zidane would be not to tamper and experiment too much or the Galacticos might drop points once again.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

But it seems that going with Vinicius doesn’t seem like the best course of action for everyone at the capital. The youngster had a chance to impress in the last game against Real Valladolid but ended up just slipping under the radar.

He started off the bench and was only introduced in the second half but he failed to make an impression or make any palpable contribution to the result. Soon after that and after this summer’s newcomer Luka Jović was introduced, Vinicius was actually shifted to the opposite side, to the right-wing. And this is when things started going all the way down.

Right from the bat, it was visible the youngster wasn’t really comfortable on the side opposite to his natural position so his performance went mostly unnoticed or rather, noticed for all the wrong things. But if Zidane is going to take one thing from that game then it definitely should not be Vinicius’ “bad performance”.

In fact, he should learn from that mistake of slotting the youngsters into uncharted territory on the right and stick him where he belongs – on the left where he is comfortable and where he knows he’ll make an impact.

It is true that he doesn’t have many options down that flank but that’s even more reason not to put his only viable one out of position. That would most likely be shooting his own foot in the process.

Real Madrid had all sorts of problems in that second fixture of the new campaign but one that is still plaguing them even from last season is their lethality in front of goal or rather, a player who can decide the whole match with his contribution. When he was fit and when he was deployed on that left side, Vinicius was their spark that added pace, skills, constant danger and most important of all, plenty of goals.

His three goals and 12 assists across all competitions in 2018/19 can attest to that as well. The difference between that Vinicius and the one we saw against Valladolid is quite a big one and the funny thing is, most of that comes down to the positioning on the pitch.

It seems like such a trivial thing and yet it’s something that just might make or break Zidane’s next game. It’s not a particularly easy opponent either. Villarreal away from home would sound scary to anyone, let alone to a team that’s still trying to find its groove in the new campaign or even just in general.

Of course, at the moment it does seem like the French coach has a lot to think about in the preparation for the game against the Yellow Submarine but sorting that left-wing should definitely be up there around the very top of the list.

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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…

Six points from six in the Premier League, and a UEFA Super Cup to boot too. Not bad for a start to the season for Liverpool. But scratch beneath the surface, and not all is well at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp’s side were the defensive kings in English football last season, conceding just 22 goals in the top-flight yet in the opening weeks of the campaign, the Reds have looked anything but certain in defence.

Against Norwich, Klopp’s men were caught out a number of times in transition, with the likes of Emiliano Buendia and Teemu Pukki causing all sorts of problems through their movement – between them taking five efforts at goal and creating five chances. The Liverpool back-four didn’t look organised and but for some profligate finishing from the newly-promoted side, could have ended up suffering more than just the one goal.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Then against Chelsea, Olivier Giroud – who has never been blessed with pace – found himself running clear from the Liverpool centre-backs on a few occasions. The errors against the Canaries and the Blues were more to do with the collective; against Southampton on Saturday, it was an individual error that cost them courtesy of Adrian’s howler.

Their much-vaunted attack has so far managed to bail out their defence, but the Reds’ next couple of fixtures will certainly offer a stiffer test of their defensive credentials. Against Arsenal at Anfield, it is entirely feasible Unai Emery will finally unleash his big-money attacking trident of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe. Their pace, movement and clinical finishing will examine whether the Reds have made significant improvements collectively from recent weeks and can return to the standards of last season.

Burnley the following week will offer arguably a test of the opposite. The Clarets will test out the Reds’ willingness to embrace the one-to-one duels, both in the air and on the ground. Sean Dyche’s men are notoriously rugged and direct, and the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip will have to be at the top of their games to grind a result out.

So far, the Reds have yet to see their results affected by their defensive lapses. The next couple of weeks however could be the breaking point if Klopp doesn’t get his back-line sorted out.

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