All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

West Ham United fans have told Manuel Pellegrini to leave the club after their 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday.

The Hammers struggled to break the Blades down at The London Stadium as a Lys Mousset goal cancelled out Robert Snodgrass’ opener.

The result means that the club have gone four games without a win in the Premier League.

Indeed, since their 2-0 win over Manchester United, the Irons have drawn with AFC Bournemouth and Chris Wilder’s side and lost to Crystal Palace and Everton.

And supporters are growing tired of Pellegrini’s time in the dugout, with many urging him to get out of their club following the final whistle.

The result left the Hammers in ninth place, but just one point clear of Brighton & Hove Albion in 12th. The Seagulls, of course, beat Everton 3-2 on the same day.

Pellegrini’s side face a tough run of fixtures across the next few weeks, playing Newcastle United and Burnley before London derbies against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Those are followed by a clash with Wolves and then another derby versus Arsenal.

Take a look at the best of the reaction on Twitter below!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

At 32 years of age, Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur is definitely entering the latter stage of his career.

There were times last season when he looked bang out of form and struggled to implement his usual tigerish nature in games – one fan said that a glaring miss against West Ham last term summed his season up amid a number of other harsh responses.

Incidentally, the former Wigan man retired from international duty with Scotland in October 2018, stating that he had found it “increasingly difficult” to manage a number of physical issues.

However, in the Eagles’ last outing against Arsenal, you would’ve thought that this seemingly declining footballer was a bright, nippy player several years his junior such was the energy of his display.

Some Palace fans on Twitter felt that a recent 4-0 capitulation against Tottenham was down to McArthur’s absence – one supporter dubbed him as the “engine room” amid a number of complimentary tweets.

Against the Gunners, he certainly lived up to such a claim.

The 5 foot 10 Scotsman appeared to cover every blade of the Emirates pitch, buzzing around to make five tackles – more than anyone else in the game managed.

McArthur also combined an industrial performance with moments of guile and craft, making two key passes, completing one dribble and taking one shot against the north Londoners.

One of his key passes also led to a goal. McArthur’s jinking run down the left flank after being released by Wilfried Zaha saw him then deliver a deft cross to the back post, taking David Luiz out of the game completely before Jordan Ayew nodded home an equaliser.

This kind of performance was more regular from the energetic Scotsman a few years ago, but with the clock ticking down on his career, he reminded supporters of just how important he still is to this Palace side – he was simply brilliant against Unai Emery’s team.

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

Sead Kolasinac watched from the bench last time Arsenal played Vitoria de Guimaraes in the Europa League, as Kieran Tierney went up against former Tottenham Hotspur player Marcus Edwards.

However, the Bosnia & Herzegovina international has recently been shunned in the league, playing just 19 minutes across the last two league games, having started six throughout the campaign, as per WhoScored.

On the chalkboard

His lack of league involvement suggests he may be brought in for the Europa League clash with Emery presumably eager to rotate his squad ahead of the weekend.

If that does indeed prove to be the case, Kolasinac is likely to be put directly up against Edwards, with the 20-year-old a key player for the Portuguese outfit in the reverse fixture, getting 1 goal, playing 1 key pass and completing 1 dribble at the Emirates.

Therefore, Kolasinac’s role, should he start the game, will probably be largely based around nullifying the threat the England youth international possesses.

Stepping up defensively

In the Premier League, the 26-year-old has averaged 1.4 tackles this season, though he has also made 0.6 fouls and been dribbled past 0.6 times per game.

While the stats do not appear too damning, he often struggles against tricky wingers of Edwards’ ilk. Going forward he is a reliable outlet but up against Edwards, a player who has averaged 2.5 dribbles per Europa League match this term, he may struggle to contain his threat.

Kolasinac could be required to put in a similarly disciplined performance to the one he gave against Eintracht Frankfurt, the only other Europa League game he’s taken part in this campaign, in which he made 6 tackles and completed 2 clearances.

If Arsenal beat Vitoria, who are yet to claim a Europa League point, they will maintain their perfect record in the competition and stay in the driving seat to top the group.

Kolasinac can play a vital part in that happening up against a former rival.

Cenk Tosun’s late equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend earned him a spot in the Everton XI for Saturday’s clash with Southampton.

Indeed, the 28-year-old was named at the tip of the attack for the clash at St Mary’s, which the Toffees won 2-1 to pick up a vital three points.

According to WhoScored, Tosun had three shots and won two aerial duels against the Saints, but his overall contribution was quite limited.

And it was not too much of a surprise when head coach Marco Silva decided to replace the Turkey international in the 74th minute with the score at 1-1.

There were some Everton fans that were pleased with what they saw from the 6 ft centre-forward on the afternoon.

Watch Everton Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, not everyone shared the same opinion as many others thought that Tosun struggled to contribute before being replaced.

It was a real mixed bag from the supporters regarding his overall performance, as shown by the tweets below:

Leeds United stayed within touching distance of the Championship’s league leaders with a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.Patrick Bamford netted his first goal since August and assisted the winner to hand Marcelo Bielsa’s side all three points as they remain in third place, two points off West Bromwich Albion.The league will now embark on the third international break of the season before the Yorkshiremen return to action against Luton Town in two weeks, and if fans’ reactions are anything to go by, then one of their players is undoubtedly destined for such an accolade one day.Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Brighton loanee Ben White excelled in defence like he has done on many occasions this season, which has led to sections of the United faithful talking him up to be a future England captain.

One supporter claimed the 22-year-old is the only player in the last 15 years that would have got into their Champions League side of 2001 while another labelled him a ‘Rolls-Royce’ defender.

‘Absolute baller’ and ‘potential star of the future’ were just two other phrases used to describe his performance with one more fan believing he is the best centre-back in the division.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Loan Watch series, which takes a closer look at those players who are aiming to galvanise their careers away from the spotlight of their parent club.

For some reason, Southampton decided to make Guido Carrillo their club-record signing in 2018.

The Saints genuinely decided to spend a huge £19m on the striker who had scored just five times in 22 games before his January move to St Mary’s.

Following his exit from Monaco, Carrillo could boast just 21 goals in 95 appearances in total for the French side, which equates to the Argentine finding the back of the net once every 4.5 games on average.

Still, £19m was spent on him.

Since he became a Southampton player almost two years ago, the 28-year-old hadn’t scored for the south coast side in ten appearances before he was shipped out to be reunited with the man who signed him for the Saints at Leganes – Mauricio Pellegrino.

It has previously been reported by The Daily Echo that Southampton want to offload their record signing permanently, something that might prove difficult for two reasons.

Firstly, having decided to sign Carrillo twice for whatever reason, you might assume that any chances of offloading the former Estudiantes striker rest on Pellegrino remaining with the Spanish side, given his strange fixation with the misfiring forward – he has since been sacked by Leganes.

To make matters worse, Carrillo’s goalscoring form for the side from La Liga is largely atrocious.

Having spent last season and the current campaign so far with Leganes, Carrillo has only been able to muster six goals in 42 appearances – all of them came last term, as the striker has zero goals in nine league appearances this year.

So, with Pellegrino out of the picture and Carrillo goalless after roughly a third of the campaign, what hopes do the Saints still have of offloading the massive flop?

Things are looking very bleak in their attempts to get rid of the Argentine, and unless the £19m man goes on a phenomenal scoring run to fire bottom-place Leganes up the Spanish top-flight, Southampton may be stuck with Carrillo for even longer.

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…

Aston Villa’s Chief Executive Officer Christian Purslow has played an influential role in the club’s current direction under new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, but the 55-year-old has been speaking out regarding the latest updates to VAR in the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.

What did he say?

Following the news that Villa, Everton and two other clubs raised concerns over the way VAR was being used, Purslow said the following after a meeting on Thursday:

“They’ve [Premier League clubs] got grave concerns but so has everyone in the room. We’ve had a very robust discussion and the message has got through to the league and to the referees association that fans are unhappy and many other stakeholders in the game think we’ve got to do a whole lot better.

“I expect to see real improvements in the speed of decisions [VAR], the consistency, which is what everybody craves. I think above else for all else for those of us in-stadia we want much better communication for what’s going on before, during and after.”

Can VAR be enhanced for the benefit of the top-flight?

Despite VAR chief Neil Swarbrick rating the latest technology in the Premier League as a “seven out of ten”, there can be no doubting that fundamental flaws remain in the overall operation.

The issues that Purslow cites including “consistency” stand out as one of VAR’s biggest flaws, yet if collaboration can occur between the “stakeholders” that the Villa CEO refers to, it is unlikely that the current situation is beyond a state of repair.

Although Villa have been on the receiving end of a number of refereeing decisions relating to VAR, including Kevin Friend disallowing a Jack Grealish equaliser at Crystal Palace as well as Conor Hourihane’s strike against Brighton being ruled out despite no evident infringement, Purslow’s comments reflect a wider perspective on the shortcomings of the technology so far this season.

It will be vital for VAR to progress and the rating that Swarbrick alludes to should move higher, but taking on board the feedback that the likes of Purslow have provided on behalf of their clubs will be vital if the system is to improve in the current campaign. 

In what was undeniably one of Manchester United’s biggest humiliations last season, the Red Devils’ 4-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park really felt like the lowest point of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure up until that point.

Speaking after the game, the Norwegian himself admitted that “everything went wrong” during the game, and that the performance was “not worthy” of a United team.

After coming back from two goals down to eventually claim a 3-3 draw with newly-promoted Sheffield United on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League, Solskjaer was far more bullish about his side’s display.

He insisted that there is a “huge” difference between his team this season compared to last, and that they would have been three or four goals behind in the same situation previously.

After hearing their manager’s comments following the game, United fans took to Twitter to voice their frustrations at the situation.

[ad_pod ]

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted that his verdict on the game showed his weak mentality, and reminded him they were playing a side that had just been promoted from the Championship.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

Meanwhile, Manchester United are targeting a former Manchester City star to solve their goal-scoring woes.

According to Turkish media outlet Fotospor, Crystal Palace failed in a bid to bring Alexander Sorloth back to Selhurst Park next season by offering Christian Benteke to Trabzonspor, and Eagles fans have been quick to react on Twitter.

The 23-year-old joined the Turkish club on a two-year loan deal during the summer transfer window following a nightmare first 12 months in south London in which he scored just one goal in 20 appearances in all competitions, and none in 16 outings in the Premier League.

He has fared much better with Trabzonspor this term, scoring nine goals and providing a further four assists in 20 matches – something which has reportedly caught the team from the English capital’s eye.

Fotospor say that Palace made an offer to the Turkish club that would have seen the Norway international return to SE25 in the summer, with Benteke going the other way – it was duly rejected by club officials.

Eagles supporters have been given their thoughts on the transfer story via social media, and while one said “is this a joke”, another said “no chance that’s true”.

To be fair to them, it is quite difficult to believe given what a flop Sorloth was in his first 12 months with Roy Hodgson’s men, as well as the fact they only handed Benteke a new contract extension in October.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

In other Palace news, Van Aanholt could soon get some much-needed competition in the left-back spot…

Garry Monk is engaged in a dispute with former assistant manager Pep Clotet after the Spaniard took on the role of Birmingham City manager after Monk was sacked by the club last summer.

The former Leeds boss views Clotet’s actions as a betrayal and that led him to avoid contact with his opposite number ahead of the meeting between Blues and Sheffield Wednesday in mid-week.

However, Monk has little sympathy from Leeds fans. They know all about Monk from his time at Elland Road and many still haven’t forgiven him for the way he departed the club.

Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

He had a successful time in Yorkshire, guiding the Whites to a seventh-place finish in 2016/17 before deciding that the prospect of managing Middlesbrough was an opportunity that was too good to turn down.

Because of that departure he is viewed as a “snake” by some supporters, and in the debacle with Clotet they believe that it was Monk who acted like a child and was without class.

[ad_pod ]

Here is what fans have been saying in response to Monk’s actions on Wednesday evening.

In other Leeds news, Phil Hay has provided an interesting transfer update which may not be the news that fans want to hear.