[ad_pod ]Some Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to reveal that they think James McArthur’s absence from the starting XI played a part in the humiliating 4-0 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.The Scotland international had started every single one of the Eagles’ Premier League fixtures before the visit to Spurs, which he missed due to an injury, and his teammates didn’t have the best of times without him.

Roy Hodgson’s men found themselves 4-0 down before the end of the first half after goals from Heung-min Son and Erik Lamela, as well as an own goal for Patrick van Aanholt.

Whilst it is easy to say that McArthur was missed due to the result, his tireless running and energy in the middle of the park does often go unnoticed – any side would miss a player who does so much work for the team.

Let’s see what the Palace fans on Twitter have been saying about his absence…

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أعلن شوقي غريب، المدير الفني لمنتخب مصر الأولمبي، موعد معسكر المنتخب النهائي قبل خوض منافسات أولمبياد طوكيو، في شهر يوليو المقبل.

وتأهل منتخب مصر الأولمبي لأولمبياد طوكيو، بعدما توج ببطولة كأس الأمم الإفريقية تحت 23 سنة، التي استضافتها مصر، وذلك لأول مرة في تاريخه.

اقرأ أيضًا.. شوقي غريب: 10 لاعبين كبار مرشحين لـ المنتخب الأولمبي.. وسنتحرك رسميًا لضم محمد صلاح بعد قرعة الأولمبياد

وقال شوقي غريب خلال مداخلة هاتفية عبر قناة “أون تايم سبورتس 2”: “سيكون هناك معسكر للمنتخب الأولمبي في 5 من شهر يونيو المقبل سنخوض فيه مباراتين أو ثلاثة، ويجب أن نخوض مباريات ودية أمام مدراس أوروبية قبل البطولة”.

تابع: “المعسكر النهائي سيبدأ يوم 5 يوليو المقبل وسنخوض خلاله على الأقل مباراتين قبل بداية الأولمبياد، وقبل أن تبدأ الأولمبياد سنكون قد لعبنا على الأقل من 4 إلى 5 مباريات أمام منتخبات من أمريكا الشمالية وأوروبا”.

وواصل: “فضلنا استمرار ناصر ماهر مع الأهلي بعدما كان مصابًا ولم يشارك منذ فترة طويلة مع الفريق، وعبد الرحمن مجدي ومحمد صادق نفس الأمر، ورمضان صبحي ومحمد عبد السلام وكريم العراقي، كل هؤلاء قوة أساسية للمنتخب الأولمبي وشاركوا في أكثر من 70 أو 80% من المواجهات”.

استكمل: “فضلنا أن نختار عناصر جديدة لكي نراهم في المعسكر المقبل، وأي لاعب متواجد في القائمة المعلنة لمعسكر المنتخب المقبل 95% منهم يشاركون مع أنديتهم، فيما عدا مركز واحد وهم عمرو صلاح ومصطفى شوبير، ولكن باقي الحراس شاركوا مع فرقهم بنسبة 100%”.

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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…

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, John Hartson spoke very highly of Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson.

The former Wales international highlights his technical ability, which is best evidenced through his freekicks and long-range goals that have become a hallmark of his Premier League career, as one of his most outstanding qualities.

However, because of that talent he should be providing excellent service with more regularity. So far this term, Sigurdsson has not looked like matching the 14 goals and seven assists he recorded last season.

And the former Arsenal striker has suggested that his performances need to improve.

“I like Sigurdsson. At £45 million, technically he is one of the best in the Premier League.

“And maybe he should be stepping up and doing a little bit more for that type of money. That’s what you’d expect.”

Operating in the number ten role, the Iceland international will have to produce more if Everton are to achieve their ambitions for the season.

He displayed his natural talent with a fine delivery to assist Alex Iwobi against Wolves, though the fact that has only happened on one occasion supports Hartson’s view that he needs to be doing more to help the team.

Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It is possible his manager is thinking along the same lines, too, leaving him out of the starting line-up in the trip to Sheffield Wednesday, with Iwobi occupying a central role and providing an assist for Everton’s second.

As a result, Sigurdsson could be left out for longer than he might expect, and such treatment could act as a warning that he needs to do more to earn a place in the team on merit.

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Oh dear, Dean Henderson. The 22-year-old played a key role in Sheffield United’s return to the top-flight, conceding just 41 goals last season in the Championship – the joint-lowest of any side.

There were suggestions earlier this summer that the goalkeeper would return to his parent club Manchester United and compete with David de Gea for the number one spot, but he ended up moving back to Bramall Lane on another season-long loan.

On Saturday afternoon, the England U21 international came up against Liverpool, who had been firing on all cylinders this season with six wins from six in the Premier League.

However, Henderson and his Blades teammates held firm for the majority of the clash and looked on course for an impressive draw and clean sheet. Until, a massive moment to forget.

Georginio Wijnaldum’s effort from outside the box squirmed away from Henderson’s grasp and rolled agonisingly over the line, with the goal proving to be the difference at the end of the match.

After seeing his massive gaffe, Red Devils fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on their loanee.

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted the club and its players are somehow finding new ways of letting the fans down.

Some fans insisted the howler proved exactly why Henderson isn’t good enough to be in the United set-up right now, with one supporter in particular calling for him to be sold.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Monthly Review series, which analyses what managers can learn from the previous month and what the coming month could have in store.

We’ve reached the first international break of the season and the dust has settled on the month of August, so how exactly did Celtic turn things around under Neil Lennon in the last four weeks?

Doom and gloom would be an understatement for the way Celtic fans felt after their Champions League exit at the hands of Cluj.

The club sold fan favourite Kieran Tierney, were showing little sign of fixing their ailing defence, had players wanting to leave and then finally allowed a team few in Glasgow had heard of to rock up to Parkhead and score four in the Hoops’ own backyard.

After last weekend’s Old Firm triumph though, things are looking up, so how exactly did Neil Lennon steady the ship last month?

Defensive solidity

Unsurprisingly, the Bhoys’ change in fortunes has coincided with a massive improvement at the back.

Lennon’s side looked dazed and confused as Cluj’s forwards romped around in acres of space in the Champions League qualifier, but fast forward a few weeks and suddenly things are looking rosy.

Boli Bolingoli is becoming a new fan favourite at left-back, Christopher Jullien played his part in stifling Rangers and some fans have even gone so far as to suggest Hatem Elhamed is better than Paolo Maldini.

So, the new signings are settling in well, and the stats show a clear upgrade over the last few games as well. The Hoops have conceded just twice in their last four, and one of those was a late consolation for Hearts with the game already wrapped up while the other was a penalty for AIK in a 4-1 Hoops win.

Watch Celtic Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Olivier Ntcham

The second crucial thing Lennon has done in the last month is bring out the old Olivier Ntcham.

After talking the Frenchman out of his desire to depart Glasgow this summer, the manager has slowly but surely bedded him back in, and the midfielder has rewarded his boss by getting back to his best.

With Scott Brown set to turn 35 at the end of this season, getting Ntcham fit, focused and firing is crucial to the club’s success, and once again they have Lennon to thank.

It’s been a pretty good few weeks for the manager.

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The centre-back was very straightforward with the caption. He didn’t dwell on the Dutch team’s performance as he simply stated ‘Job done’ before moving on to talk about the upcoming games for Liverpool.

This is exactly the type of mindset Jurgen Klopp needs from his star man if Liverpool are to win the Premier League this year, and luckily, it seems as if van Dijk has the perfect attitude.

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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…

James Pearce has branded Liverpool fans’ criticism of Joe Gomez “very unfairâ€, after the defender struggled against Red Bull Salzburg.

What’s the word?

The Reds were given an almighty scare on Wednesday night, as Salzburg showed their incredible goalscoring prowess is not confined to the Austrian Bundesliga.

Virgil van Dijk had a rare off night, but it was Gomez who fans lashed out at on Twitter.

Pearce though, who covers Liverpool for The Athletic, has defended the 22 year-old on Twitter.

He said: “Criticism of Joe Gomez last night very unfair. Rusty at times but still a class act. Far too simplistic to say that Joel Matip’s absence was to blame for LFC’s issues v Salzburg.

“Some people forget he’s still only 22,†he continued. “The likes of van Dijk, Maguire and Koulibaly weren’t operating at this level at the same age.â€

Rusty

It’s hard to disagree with Pearce here, especially if you look at the numbers Gomez produced on Wednesday night.

Per WhoScored, the 6 foot 2 England international won three aerial duels and five tackles, while also making two clearances, three interceptions and completing 84% of his passes.

Yes, a lot of the visitors’ attacks came down Liverpool’s right, as Gomez often seemed to venture slightly too far forward, leaving a big gap in between himself and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

His positioning was questionable at best, and he committed three fouls.

However, “rusty†is perhaps the best way to describe his performance, as it is perfectly acceptable for a player to struggle settling in after a long lay-off, and even more so when they are thrown into the cauldron that is Anfield on a European night, facing a side with 40 goals in nine league games.

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West Brom extended their unbeaten run to a ninth straight Championship game on Saturday afternoon as they defeated Queens Park Rangers 2-0.

The first half was one to forget with zero shots on target for either team, but the game sparked into life just eight minutes into the second period when full-back Nathan Ferguson was allowed time and space to venture forward from the left flank to beat the QPR goalkeeper with a 25-yard strike.

Yoann Barbet was then sent off for fouling Hal Robson-Kanu when he was adjudged to be the last man and Matheus Pereira netted the resulting free-kick with less than ten minutes left on the clock.

The Brazilian winger is only on loan at the west Midlands club, but his impact has been hailed by several of the Baggies faithful – particularly after picking up his first goal.

One supporter claimed he would be an absolute steal at £9m, so the Albion hierarchy need to sign him up as soon as possible, while another said the 23-year-old was different gravy.

‘Truly gifted’ was a further description of Pereira as one more fan called him ‘majestic.’

Here’s the best of the reaction:

عقد محمود الخطيب رئيس النادي الأهلي، اجتماعًا مع أشرف توفيق، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة السلة رجال بالأحمر، وعلي هاشم المدير الفني لكرة السلة سيدات.

تراجعت نتائج فريق سلة الأهلي، في الفترة الأخيرة وخاصة في بطولة سوبر الدوري المصري.

اقرأ أيضًا.. خاص | اتجاه في الأهلي لإقالة أشرف توفيق من تدريب فريق السلة

وعلم “بطولات” أن الاجتماع يأتي بسبب تراجع مستوى فرق السلة داخل النادي الأهلي، وخاصة فريق الرجال الذي يعاني خلال الفترة الأخيرة.

وكان الأهلي قد أبرم العديد من الصفقات خلال الفترة الأخيرة في فريق السلة، كلفت خزائن النادي ما يقارب 30 مليون جنيه، وهو أعلى رقم في تاريخ صفقات فرق الدوري المصري للسلة.

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

Leeds’ first-half display didn’t provide many answers for Marcelo Bielsa as they went into the break at Oakwell with the game level at 0-0.

It took Leeds until the final ten minutes to finally break the deadlock as like they did against Swansea, they struggled to actually find the back of the net before eventually prevailing 2-0.

Jack Harrison was one of the poorer performers from a Whites perspective and was withdrawn at half time with Helder Costa coming on.

He won the free-kick for Leeds’ opening goal so he definitely had a key impact in securing a win for the visitors.

However, it may not be Costa that’s causing Harrison the most problems.

On the chalkboard

The 22-year-old started the season in brilliant fashion by scoring against Bristol City but since that outing, he hasn’t been able to contribute to a single goal.

Harrison has been struggling and with Costa breathing over his shoulder, the 5 foot 9 winger’s place could be under threat.

Against the Reds last Sunday, he had just one shot and achieved a pass success rate of 65% according to WhoScored.

He also managed a solitary key pass but had two unsuccessful touches in 45 minutes on the field.

It was an unconvincing display, one where he failed to really get forward.

The heatmap above demonstrates where Harrison was most involved at Oakwell but as you can see, he spent most of the time behind the halfway line. That isn’t ideal for someone you expect to be influencing the game in the final third.

This time you can see Ezgjan Alioski’s heatmap. His average positions were much higher up the field which can be argued as a reason for why Harrison was deeper last weekend.

Alioski is known for getting forward and already has a goal to his name this term, adding to the seven he scored in 2018/19.

With that in mind, the North Macedonian might be one of the reasons for why Harrison has struggled since his introduction into the side.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Considering Alioski is such a presence in attacking scenarios, it may have the Manchester City loanee thinking he needs to be more disciplined and sit back, rather than leaving a big gap in behind down the left.

That, in turn, leads to a less daring display from Harrison who is playing deeper than he would probably like to.

Unless he starts getting further forward, it’s difficult to see how he’ll improve his numbers in terms of goals and assists.