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Eddie Howe is pushing for the managerial role at Everton, according to a report from the Daily Express.

The 43-year-old has been out of work since leaving Bournemouth at the end of the 2019/20 season following their relegation from the Premier League. He had led the Cherries from League Two to the top flight, where they remained for five seasons.

Howe may be eyeing Everton after turning down Celtic

Howe looked set to take over at Celtic, who are without a permanent manager themselves after the departure of Neil Lennon. The Hoops expected him to sign a contract within a matter of days before he walked away.

It’s unclear as to why the deal collapsed, but according to BBC Sport, the composition of Howe’s backroom team could have been a factor.

Everton are working to secure a replacement for Carlo Ancelotti after he was lured away by Real Madrid, with the former Bournemouth manager seemingly on their radar according to the Daily Express.

Everton fans unimpressed with Howe

Fan account Everton News Feed shared the Howe report, and here’s how fans reacted, with plenty unconvinced by the 43-year-old, possibly as he has only once placed in the top 10 in the Premier League, a bracket in which the Toffees have finished in 12 of the last 15 seasons.

“Didn’t know the club had advertised for a catering manager.”

Credit: @maynard_hanna

“Would he even be mentioned if we wasn’t an Evertonian? Just not the man for me, trouble is, who is?”

Credit: @steve_latch

“So am I. I’m hoping we both stand the same chance.”

Credit: @benwalker1981

“No chance! I like him but maybe for Blackpool, Preston or Barrow.”

Credit: @Ralph743

“Need to give him a good shove back”

Credit: @AW18781

“Move to spam”

Credit: @Evertonibrow

In other news, Everton are eyeing a move for this Barcelona star. 

Karachi: India lifted the Under-17 Asia Cup Cricket Tournament with a six-wicket triumph over hosts Bangladesh in the final at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday

25-Feb-2001Karachi: India lifted the Under-17 Asia Cup Cricket Tournament with a six-wicket triumph over hosts Bangladesh in the final at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday.India, making their debut at this level, reached 228 for four in 43.1 overs to overhaul Bangladesh’s 225 for six after the home side had elected to bat first, according to details available here.Opener Mohammed Ashraful was Bangladesh’s mainstay with a rapid knock of 89 off 85 deliveries with 11 boundaries. Wicket-keeper Kazi Hasibul Haque remained unbeaten on 52 off 87 balls with two fours. The pair were involved in a third wicket partnership of 88.Three Bangladesh batsmen were run out, including skipper Nafeez Iqbal for 12. Slow left-armer Shankararao was the pick of the Indian bowlers with one for 24 in nine overs.India were well served by their top order batsmen. Sachin Dholpure blasted six fours and one six in his 59-ball 50, Parthiv Patel, the Indian wicket-keeping captain, contributed 40 off 48 balls with five hits to the fence. The opening stand between Dholpure and Patel realised 97 in 17.3 overs before were out off successive balls.Deepak Chougule (46 off 64 balls with seven fours) and Mohnish Mishra, who hit 51 off 61 balls with five fours and a six, then added 93 for the third wicket in 18.4 overs.Satya Kumar Varma and Stuart Binny, son of Roger, the Indian coach, completed the final rites after Man-of-the-Match Mishra was caught in the 41st over.For Roger Binny, the former Test all-rounder and a member of the Indian World Cup-winning team in 1983, it was a unique double since he was also the coach of the Indian side which won the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka last year.

David Moyes could be about to repeat a similar mistake to one that Manuel Pellegrini made at West Ham…

What’s the word?

According to Spanish outlet AS, the Irons are among the Premier League teams interested in making a move for Espanyol winger Adrian Embarba.

It’s thought that the East London outfit will battle the likes of Wolves, Norwich City and Watford for the 29-year-old’s signature this summer transfer window.

Embarba is said to want to remain at the newly-promoted La Liga side but he is not among the top ten highest-paid players, and fellow Spanish teams Levante and Real Betis are also keeping tabs on the situation.

It remains to be seen how much the attacker would cost the Hammers, though Transfermarkt currently values him at a little over £6m.

Ajeti 2.0

West Ham must approach this interest with caution as it reeks of being a Pellegrini-like disaster right from the off.

The Espanyol attacking midfielder has enjoyed an outstanding season in the second-tier of Spanish football this season – as per Transfermarkt, he has delivered nine goals and 14 assists from 37 appearances.

That’s as many goals as Jesse Lingard in a claret and blue shirt, and more than Jarrod Bowen (eight) and Said Benrahma (one), so on the face of it, he could be an upgrade to the wing department.

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But La Liga 2 is a different kettle of fish to the big time, particularly the Premier League, where it is a lot more physical.

The last time Embarba was in the Spanish top-flight, he could only provide two goals and four assists as Espanyol were relegated. That would suggest that he may have actually found his level lower down the divisions.

You only have to look at the Irons’ previous failings in the transfer market for a similar type of player to see why they should steer clear.

For example, when West Ham won the race for Albian Ajeti, everyone had high hopes for him. Understandably so, as he joined on the back of a 20-goal and 11-assist campaign for Basel.

He would then go onto play 12 times for the Hammers, failing to score before moving out on loan to Celtic.

It’s hard to imagine that a 29-year-old who has never played outside of his home country, nor been capped at international level, would be a good enough signing to help West Ham in Europe next season.

GSB and Moyes must not follow through with their interest in Embarba.

AND in other news, Moyes on verge of another Hammers transfer masterclass after ExWHUemployee claim…

Queens Park Rangers have offered midfielder Tom Carroll a new deal at the club.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a statement posted on the QPR website, which confirmed that both Carroll and Charlie Owens have been offered contracts to extend their stays at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

The club also revealed that both Dillon Barnes and Marco Ramkilde will be remaining in west London until June 2022 after exercising extension clauses in the players’ current deals, while Paul Smyth and Aramide Oteh have been released.

Fans must be buzzing

While Carroll has not featured for QPR since mid-January due to a knee injury, the news that Amit Bhatia has offered the 28-year-old a new contract is likely to leave Rs fans buzzing, as the midfielder had started to become an important part of Mark Warburton’s side since joining the club back in September of last year.

Having featured in all but one of the Rs’ Champoinship fixtures prior to his injury, the former Tottenham man proved a very reliable option for QPR in the middle of the park, averaging 0.6 interceptions, 1.3 tackles and 1.1 key passes per game over his 22 appearances, culminating in a solid average SofaScore match rating of 6.74.

While it would be fair to say that Carroll has perhaps not lived up to the expectations placed on his shoulders while a youngster at Spurs, if the 58-year-old QPR gaffer can manage to consistently get the best out of the £1.8m-rated midfielder, the Rs could be in possession of a real talent who is in the prime years of his career.

As such, once he has fully recovered from his injury and with a full pre-season behind him, the player who Tim Sherwood once claimed had the ability to play for Barcelona could very much play a huge role in Warburton’s side mounting a push to secure a top six finish next term.

In other news: Warburton drops “staggering” update on £5k-p/w beast which will surely delight QPR fans – opinion

Consider the performance of Seamus Coleman on Thursday evening and one might argue that Everton need a new right-back.

The Toffees skipper has been a wonderful servant at Goodison Park but his best days are definitely behind him. Coleman is still productive in the opposition’s half but the final ball which made him one of the most dangerous full-backs in the Premier League now eludes him.

In his prime, the Irishman ran forward at great speed and helped himself to a number of goal involvements. During his time in Merseyside, the 32-year-old has bagged 26 goals and provided 31 assists. It’s a decent tally, especially for a defender.

That said, with Coleman’s contract expiring in a year’s time, Carlo Ancelotti and co better get searching for replacements – and one player to whom they could turn their attention is Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence.

It is reported that Everton and Rangers are interested in his services, and if the £3,500-per-week earner arrives in the Premier League, Ancelotti could have his very own Trent Alexander-Arnold right in front of him.

Speaking about Spence earlier this season, Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock commented: “If you look at one or two of the full-backs that are around now – the lad at Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the lad at Manchester United from Palace (Aaron Wan-Bissaka) – they are all the same type as Djed.

“He does have enormous ability, and when you’ve got ability like that it’s criminal if you don’t get to the very top.”

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Alexander-Arnold has quickly become one of the promising full-backs in world football, providing Liverpool with an eye-catching amount of creativity from defence. Regularly striding forward, the England international has 31 Premier League assists to his name over the last three seasons.

Spence hasn’t yet found that level of ingenuity on the ball but, with 0.8 dribbles per match, he clearly loves to get forward.

The Middlesbrough full-back is just 20 but has enjoyed a breakthrough season in the Championship, starting 16 times for his club. Renowned for his ability to play further forward as a winger, it’s his aptitude for running up and down the right-hand channel which bears so much similarity to Alexander-Arnold.

At Spence’s age, the Liverpool star was already a Premier League regular, so he has a long way to go before he does reach the top.

However, with Coleman heading towards the twilight of his Goodison Park tenure, Spence feels like a natural long-term replacement for the Everton captain.

AND in other news, Fewer touches than Pickford: Everton ace who made just 10 passes let Ancelotti down…

Leeds United have been rocked by the news that Helder Costa will miss the remainder of the Premier League season through injury.

The Lowdown: Costa filling in admirably for Raphinha

The Whites may have lost 2-0 away to Brighton last weekend, but they have still been in a good run of form, taking five points off Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United in recent weeks.

Costa has played his part in those positive results, filling in for the injured Raphinha against Liverpool and United, and performing well out wide, but Marcelo Bielsa is now really stuck for senior options in that position.

The Latest: Costa ruled out for the season

Unfortunately, the Angolan now joins his teammate on the treatment table, with Sky Sports reporting that he won’t play again this season.

Costa missed the Brighton defeat with a back injury and Bielsa has confirmed that the problem will keep him out for Leeds’ final four matches of the season:

“He won’t be able to compete again this season.”

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The Verdict: Major winger shortage for Leeds

While Bielsa doesn’t have many injury absentees across other areas of the pitch, Costa being out leaves him threadbare in wide attacking areas, assuming Raphinha misses out again.

With both Costa and the Brazilian missing for Saturday’s visit of Tottenham, Leeds may again have to use Stuart Dallas on the right wing – a far-from-ideal scenario that also occurred at the Amex Stadium – with Jack Harrison on the opposite flank.

Granted, the Northern Irishman’s versatility makes him a solid option there, but he lacks Costa’s natural width, speed and unpredictable nature in that position, and Leeds lose an attacking spark without an out-and-out winger on the right-hand side.

Without the pace to get in behind defences, Bielsa loses a big part of the way his sides operate, able to transition from back to front on a moment’s notice.

It arguably means Luke Ayling needs to provide even more attacking thrust than usual, in order to help fill the void left, still looking to register his first goal or assist this season, so it really is a crucial blow to the side’s attacking style.

In other news, Leeds are thought to be eyeing up a move for an attacking player this summer. Find out who it is here.

Southampton’s woeful Premier League form in 2021 continued as they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Anfield, with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side missing a number of big chances against the Merseyside club.

Sadio Mane’s header gave Jurgen Klopp’s side the lead moments after Che Adams missed a golden opportunity before Thiago made the points safe late on for the Reds.

The Saints are fortunate that the likes of Fulham and West Brom haven’t picked up more points in recent weeks, as Southampton’s terrible run of results has seen them slip to 16th in the Premier League table, just 10 points clear of the relegation places.

Although there were a number of disappointing performances at Anfield, the man who arguably disappointed the most was Theo Walcott, with the 32-year-old continuing his poor recent form in Hasenhuttl’s side.

As per SofaScore, the winger would earn a generous 6.6/10 match rating for his display, with only Che Adams (6.3), Jan Bednarek (6.3), Jack Stephens (6.3) and Kyle Walker-Peters (6.4) rated lower of those who started the game.

Considering Walcott’s vast experience, you would hope that he would still be able to have an influence in games such as these, where Southampton would need to keep possession and frustrate the hosts, especially in a season where their fearsome home record has completely evaporated.

However, the former Arsenal man would complete just 9/15 of his passes during the game, resulting in a less than impressive 60% success rate.

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This was the joint-fewest passes with Adams played by any player who started the game, whilst it is also significantly fewer than the 19.8 passes he has averaged per game in the Premier League this season.

Despite being involved so little, the £5.4m-rated Walcott still managed to lose possession on 11 occasions, whilst he also failed to contribute a single shot or dribble during his time on the pitch.

Hampshire Live journalist Tom Leach certainly wasn’t impressed with his performance, as he rated him a 3/10, writing:

“He was quiet and struggled to get into the game. He was easily forced wide and crowded out in possession, creating next to nothing. His form seems to have vanished during the second half of the season.”

Hasenhuttl will surely be fuming that one of the most experienced players in his side was completely anonymous at Anfield and considering Walcott’s poor recent form, the Austrian should surely think twice about signing him permanently this summer.

And, in other news… Southampton suffer huge setback with “exciting” £9m-rated gem, Ralph surely fuming

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Wolves legend Steve Bull has revealed that he wishes Sir Bobby Robson gave him a chance in the semi-final against West Germany at Italia 90, claiming they wouldn’t know what had hit them.

Bull featured 13 times for England with his first call up coming when Wolves were still in what is now known as League One, something that has never happened since and likely never will again.

England ended up finishing fourth in 1990 after losing to the Germans on penalties in the semi-final, before losing to Italy in the third-place play-off 2-1 thanks to a Salvatore Schillaci penalty in the 87th minute.

Speaking on why he was so desperate to be given a chance against West Germany and what the one thing was that stopped him making an appearance, Bull told FFC:

“It was an absolutely unbelievable experience and I’ve got my fourth place medal on the wall and whenever I walk past it on my stairs I think, ‘we could have won that’.

“The one thing I wish Bobby Robson would have done for me was put me on. He told me to get warmed up and I was about to go stand on the halfway line ready to go come on but by the time I got there that man who eats Walkers crisps, is it Lineker or something? He had scored and then Bobby turned to me and said just sit down.

“I was thinking, just give me 20 minutes because I would’ve been like the Tasmanian devil and they wouldn’t have known what had hit them. I would have just run around like an idiot, I would have been hustling and bustling and I think I would have got one chance.”

It required 83rd and 105th-minute penalties against Cameroon to secure England’s place in the semi-finals of the World Cup, but they were once again undone on a penalty shoot-out by Germany.

West Germany ended up winning the World Cup as they beat Argentinea1-0 in the final after an 85th minute winning penalty from Andreas Brehme, who scored in the shoot-out against England.

Southampton fans are far from happy after the club confirmed they have prolonged their agreement with shirt sponsor Sportsbet.io.

The betting company have only been the main partner of the Saints since last year, but the St. Mary’s outfit are clearly happy with the agreement as they have decided to extend it for another three years (southamptonfc.com). The deal, the club say, is the biggest of its kind in their history, and it will also see them receive certain payments in Bitcoin at the end of each season.

However, while this is clearly good news financially for the club, the supporters were far from happy with the announcement. Many, it seems, are angry the Saints have decided to link-up with a betting company as many continue to struggle with gambling addictions.

The news, unsurprisingly, attracted plenty of attention from the Southampton supporters, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on the matter.

Let’s see what the Southampton fans had to say below

“As someone with a gambling addiction I find this absolutely disgusting. Is there a way I can get the shirt without that horrid sponsor on it?”

Credit: @Eliassfc2

“Very disappointed my team have got so low morals. I understand the need commercial sponsorship, but surely certain categories of companies should be ruled out. Selling your soul for a few extra quid”

Credit: @SkipAdviser

“Bitterly disappointed with this, gambling nearly killed my best friend, should be banned like cigarettes or alcohol. Surely there are better companiesthat would sponsor us?”

Credit: @NorwegianSaint2

“No ethics have we- accepting this filthy lucre.”

Credit: @floppyrace

“Not great from the club. Hands were tied finding a sponsor last year but they’ve had time to find a non-gamling sponsor now.”

Credit: @S4intsPage

“Really disappointing. Especially after Semmens acknowledged his – and fans’ – discomfort with having a betting sponsor. Many could swallow a last minute, season long deal – this is different, however.”

Credit: @JMEWTSN

In other news, Southampton fans react to these Ralph Hasenhuttl comments.

Southampton return to Premier League action on Sunday afternoon as they take on Burnley at St Mary’s, with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side looking to distance themselves from a relegation battle by picking up three points against Sean Dyche’s visitors.

The south coast club were able to welcome back the likes of Theo Walcott and Danny Ings during the international break as they recovered from their respective injuries, and they could be vital to Southampton’s end to the season if they can stay fit.

Unfortunately for the Austrian manager, James Ward-Prowse is a doubt after being forced to withdraw from international duty due to a calf problem, which leaves the former RB Leipzig manager with a big decision to make in midfield.

Here’s how we think Hasenhuttl will line his side up on Sunday, with just two changes from the team which defeated Bournemouth 3-0 in the FA Cup before the international break…

Fraser Forster continues as first-choice in goal ahead of Alex McCarthy after keeping another clean sheet in the FA Cup win last time out.

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Unsurprisingly, there are no changes in the defence, with Hasenhuttl having very few options at his disposal particularly in the full-back positions, and this is his strongest back four.

There’s one change in midfield as Alexandre Jankewitz comes in for Ward-Prowse, who shouldn’t be risked, whilst Nathan Redmond also drops back into a wide position despite impressing up front against the Cherries.

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This allows Ings to make his return at centre-forward alongside the in-form Che Adams, with the “super-talented” Moussa Djenepo dropping to the bench as a result. However, the Malian may well be called upon to make an impact from the bench if required, along with Walcott, Takumi Minamino and Nathan Tella.

In other news… No goals this season: Hasenhuttl must axe 25 y/o flop, he’s stealing a wage