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[ad_pod ]Oh, Jermaine Beckford, what memories you provided for Leeds United fans.There’s something about players who emerge from the murky depths of lower league football and “make it,†certain fairy-tale qualities that we can all relate to in one way or another; just another mortal, not too dissimilar from all those who once held ambitions of being a professional footballer eventually realising their dream.Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It’s a fairly simple task becoming a Leeds cult hero.

All you need to do is travel to Old Trafford, take on Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side and score the winning goal to dump them out of the cup, which is exactly what Beckford did on January 3, 2010.

And lest we forget the promotion-winning goal against Bristol Rovers at Elland Road a few months later.

The 35-year-old announced his retirement from the game on Tuesday after 16 years and 168 goals, so it was only right that the club he scored more than half his career tally for honoured him with a highlight reel documenting some of his most memorable moments…

Beckford, we salute you.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas, Newcastle’s summer interest in Hull City winger Jarrod Bowen was genuine, and the youngster fits the profile of what the Magpies are looking for.

What’s the word?

Reports in recent months had suggested Newcastle were keeping tabs on the 22-year-old and had scouts watching Hull’s 2-0 friendly defeat to Amiens in July.

Now, in a Newcastle Q&A on The Chronicle, Douglas has delivered his verdict on whether the Magpies are indeed interested in the winger.

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He said: “They like Bowen and Steve Nickson’s scouting team have watched him a few times. Their interest in Bowen in the summer was genuine – although I do recall Steve Bruce playing down any imminent bid in the rain at Preston.

“They simply wouldn’t meet Hull’s asking price – but in January, with six months left on his deal, will the Tigers cut that £20million tag? That’s on them but Newcastle’s plan is to start bringing in younger, up-and-coming talent and he ticks every box.”

Goal-scoring boost

Despite playing 43 of his 46 games as a right-winger, Bowen showed his remarkable goal-scoring touch with 22 strikes in the Championship last term.

The Tigers winger had a real purple patch of form in the middle of the campaign, with 14 goals in 16 games between December 22 and March 16. The traditional drop-off in form that’s accustomed with English football in the winter months didn’t seem to register with Bowen, and he was a major reason behind Hull’s consistent form.

Such were his impressive showings, the 22-year-old cleaned up at the end of season awards for the club, and earned himself a place in the EFL Team of the Season. Bringing him in January would give Newcastle a goal-scoring option out wide, and relieve some of the pressure on summer signing Joelinton to fire the Magpies to victory week-in and week-out.

And if anyone thought he is a one-season wonder, then his start to the current campaign has certainly silenced those claims. Bowen has rifled in four goals in six appearances for the Championship side, and has significantly improved his averages in both shots and dribbles per game from last season. A January swoop seems like such a no-brainer.

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[ad_pod ]The FIFA ratings are out and you know what that means – fans and players alike are fuming about imaginary statistics.The EA Sports title is always a hot topic around this time of year as the next instalment of the long-running franchise edges closer to release.EA have an extensive database of footballers who they give ratings to every year based on a number of different attributes.Of course, this leads to some footballers debating their own rating in the game, and one of those players is Rhian Brewster.This time last year the teenager was given a rating of 62, with a shooting stat standing at just 60.He vowed to increase that to 85 within the next 12 months, but after his latest stats were revealed, he’s ended up rather disappointed.

In the end, his shooting stat only increased to 62, rather than the 85 that he was targeting.

The striker’s objective for this term remains the same though as he tweeted ‘Mission failed, we’ll get em next time’.

Luckily, if he keeps improving at the same rate he will have his 85 shooting in 12 and a half years – just in time for his 31st birthday.

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[ad_pod ]If you didn’t know it already, Manchester United’s midfield is simply not good enough to compete for the title.A developing Scott McTominay is showing signs that he can be a talent in the future, but there’s still a long way to go; Paul Pogba looks strained under the pressure of carrying his teammates; Fred appears to have been exiled from the squad, with just one substitute appearance to his name so far this term; Nemanja Matic turns like a canal barge on a concrete surface.There’s no real creative talent there that can offer something different or find the tiniest chinks in their opponent’s armour, excluding a fully firing Pogba. Indeed, the draws against Southampton and Wolves and the home loss to Crystal Palace were prime examples of exactly what they are lacking.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Surely the most frustrating thing about the club’s situation is that United needlessly lost one of their few quality central talents in Ander Herrera when they failed to agree on terms with the Spaniard at the end of last season, allowing him to leave on a free to Paris-Saint Germain.

While his 27 assists in 189 games don’t necessarily suggest Herrera was the most “productive†talent in the squad, he was one of the few reliable members of the midfield who genuinely gave their all for the badge, and his dogged presence in midfield freed up more able stars.

So, when Neville was recently asked if United’s midfield unit is good enough, taking all factors into consideration, it’s easy to under why he answered so frankly…

With the “perfect recruitment” however, he did think there was a chance of challenging in a couple of years time (make of that what you will)…

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West Ham United extended their unbeaten Premier League run to four matches following their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Monday night, and it was certainly an eventful evening for Irons left-back Arthur Masuaku.

The Frenchman saw red in the 67th minute in what appeared to be a harsh call by referee Mike Dean, but his teammates held on for a valuable point.

Here are three images that summed up a disappointing display for the Hammers defender…

While the red card may have been debateable, it came following what was ultimately a poor showing from the 25-year-old.

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The image above shows him being beaten easily by Villa winger Jota, as he struggled from a defensive point of view during the first half especially.

Masuaku’s first yellow card arrived in the 23rd minute of the match as his challenge stopped Villa full-back Frederic Guilbert breaking forward, meaning that he would be walking something of a tight-rope for the rest of the encounter when it came to tackling.

The Frenchman’s reaction says it all.

While it was naive, having hardly appeared to touch Ahmed Elmohamady, Masuaku’s confused look to Dean having been shown the red card is hardly surprising.

Of course, when a referee has shown a yellow card rather than a red one it can’t be subject to a VAR review, otherwise the full-back may well have stayed on the pitch for the remainder of the match.

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Grady Diangana has been an inspired signing for West Bromwich Albion.

The 21-year-old joined the Baggies on loan from West Ham United during the summer and has made a strong impression this term.

Indeed, the attacker has managed three goals and two assists in six Championship appearances in the early stages of the 2019/20 campaign.

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Diangana netted twice on his Championship debut against Luton on August 17, whilst he came off the bench to provide two assists in Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Huddersfield Town in the second tier.

West Brom are going nicely in the league this season with 16 points leaving them in fourth position in the table – just one point off leaders Leeds United.

A Celtic fan pays tribute to Fernando Ricksen in the video below…

And it would be fair to say that the club’s supporters have been delighted with the performances of Diangana, who actually made 17 Premier League appearances for West Ham during the 2018/19 campaign.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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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…

Having enjoyed a meteoric rise since breaking into the Newcastle first-team last season, Sean Longstaff has had a whirlwind 2019. The midfielder made nine Premier League appearances in the previous campaign, and his form and performances attracted reported interest from Manchester United.

A move to Old Trafford however failed to materialise, and the 21-year-old has since admitted the rumours linking him to United “flattered” him. Just like the rest of his Magpies teammates, Longstaff has had to deal with a change in manager, and his start to the current season has also been hampered by an injury.

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After making a full recovery for the game against Leicester on Sunday afternoon, Newcastle would have undoubtedly hoped for him to get back to his best. Unfortunately for them, the hometown boy struggled hugely against Brendan Rodgers’ men.

The Magpies did themselves no favours with Isaac Hayden’s first-half sending off. But even with ten men, they struggled more than they should have. And that was in part down to Longstaff’s inability to stem the tide against Leicester’s aggressive midfield.

The likes of Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet ran the show for the Foxes in the middle of the park, but really made Newcastle ineffective with their work off the ball.

Between the three of them, they won 20 duels in total and completed 14 tackles. Longstaff on the other hand appeared to be the gift that kept on giving, surrendering possession an eye-watering 22 times over the course of the game – the most of any Magpies player on the pitch.

The mitigating argument will be the central midfielder was rushed back into action by Steve Bruce. But how does that affect one’s ability to simply pass the ball to a teammate? Just 68% of his passes found their intended target, whilst only one of his seven attempted long balls were accurate.

All in all, it was a day to forget for the 5 foot 11 man linked with a big-money to United. On this evidence, he certainly didn’t prove Newcastle right to have demanded £50m for him in the summer.

Heading into the clash against Arsenal, Axel Tuanzebe would probably have been readying himself for a place on the bench for Manchester United.

Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof have been Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice pair for the Premier League this season, and so a route into the team for the 21-year-old was difficult to see.

However, Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s late withdrawal meant Tuanzebe was given the chance to play, but in an unfamiliar role at left-back, with Ashley Young switching to the right.

The England U21 international came up against Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe, and by and large, kept the Ivorian in check.

The United academy product made three interceptions, one tackle and one clearance over the course of the game in an impressive showing, but let himself down with a huge error.

His mistake in the second-half of the contest resulted in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring the equaliser for the visitors, and United fans flooded to Twitter to voice their frustrations with the defender.

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Many supporters of the Manchester side slammed the 6 foot 1 man for making such a game-defining error, and questioned why Solskjaer would pick him at left-back over Marcos Rojo.

Some fans even suggested Tuanzebe isn’t ready to play at the highest level, with one supporter in particular insisting he should simply go back to the academy.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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 never hurts to have a backup plan, now it’s time to see if Forest will try to implement it.

Whilst Michael Dawson is reportedly set to be fit once the international break is over, it is at least worth looking at who could replace him should the injury start to flare up once more.

Even if the injury doesn’t come around again, given that Dawson is into the final year of his contract and with Joe Worrall unlikely to move despite the reports of Newcastle United being interested in him, this would give Sabri Lamouchi the opportunity to see exactly what other options he has at his disposal to look at building a new partnership next season.

On the chalkboard

The most suitable candidate just happens to be someone that they brought in during the summer window, Chema.

If you look at his body of work for his previous club Levante, it shows that he is a good ‘modern’ defender who is both capable of defending the goal and getting involved in the attack.

His statistics prove that he is more than capable of slotting into the side at the City Ground and prospering in the absence of Dawson. In Spain, he averaged 1.1 tackle and 1.1 interceptions per game, whilst also committing less than one foul each outing.

He’s clearly incredibly disciplined and shouldn’t really have Forest fans worrying about giving away too many free-kicks in dangerous positions.

His ability to play with the ball and start attacks as well is rather impressive.

He completes nearly 24 passes a game, with a success rate of just under 75%. Combine him with other members of the team who also like to pass the ball around, such as Joao Carvalho and Tiago Silva and you’ve got a centre-back who can help dictate play.

Whilst he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to impress in front of Lamouchi, with Dawson’s days looking darker, he just has to hope that the manager makes him first in line, or he may never get his chance at all.

This could also be chance for him to stake a claim in case Worrall does actually depart.

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…

Cast your mind back to QPR’s 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday a number of weeks ago now.

It was the first time that Mark Warburton deployed a 5-3-2 formation in the Championship with the R’s, having previously used it exclusively in the Carabao Cup loss to Bristol City.

The switch seemed to do the trick, with Jordan Hugill netting a quickfire double to secure the three points for Warburton’s men, although another player in white and blue also starred against the Owls – Ryan Manning.

The Irishman – who we detailed fit the 5-3-2 system like a glove – grabbed an assist, recorded three key passes, embarked on a game-high four dribbles and was fouled five times in a performance that showed he was well suited to a wing-back role.

However, his most recent outing against Blackburn proves that the 5 foot 11 left-back can deliver brilliant performances no matter the system.

Warburton reverted back to a 4-2-3-1 for the visit of Tony Mowbray’s side, meaning that Manning would be operating in a flat back four rather than being entrusted in a wing-back role – regardless, the 23-year-old was still exceptional.

Manning – like he did against Sheffield Wednesday – recorded three key passes, while also delivering seven crosses with four of them accurate ones.

Again, similarly to the game against the Owls, Manning grabbed one assist. QPR’s No.14 also had one shot, but didn’t let his defensive duties suffer amidst all of his good attacking work, having also made three interceptions and a tackle.

After seeing how well the former Rotherham man played in a 5-2-3 system, you may not have expected him to perform as effectively in a four-man backline going forward, given the not-so-obvious invitation to attack, but nevertheless, Manning thrived once again.

It proved that the young full-back can deliver the goods no matter which of Warburton’s two systems he decides to go with, and that can only be good news for QPR.