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Danny Mills has claimed that West Ham United’s weak link is their centre-back partnership of Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna, as reported by Football Insider.

This comment comes after the Hammers’ 2-0 victory over Manchester United, in which Diop made 6 clearances and 1 interception, while Ogbonna made 2 tackles and 6 clearances, as per WhoScored.

The result meant that the pair had been part of a defensive unit that had kept three Premier League clean sheets in a row, as per Transfermarkt, something West Ham didn’t manage in the entirety of last season.

Despite this, Mills pointed towards the pair when asked about West Ham’s weak link by Football Insider: “Centre-backs, I’m still not hugely convinced by Diop and Ogbonna, they will give you chances from time to time.

“It’s better than it was, when you go player for player against Manchester United, I think they probably just about shave it. Maybe six players to five, it’s quite close, but on paper maybe West Ham’s starting XI is a little bit better than Manchester United.

“That shows how much West Ham have improved but also the fall and demise of Manchester United.”

There have been times when the pair have been troubled out wide, such as when Diop bundled over Daniel James after the Welshman nipped in to steal the ball, but it feels harsh to criticise a defensive pairing who have been integral to three consecutive shutouts.

The first of those came against Norwich City, with Teemu Pukki who had scored in all of his Premier League games up until that point, while the second came despite the team being reduced to 10 men after Arthur Masuaku’s dismissal away against Aston Villa.

In addition, despite conceding five against Manchester City – a game Ogbonna was not involved in – there are now only five teams who have conceded less goals in the league than West Ham this season, as per the official Premier League website.

If the pairing who contributed to that is a weak link, then West Ham are in a very good position at the moment.

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Lots of Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to react after it was revealed by news outlet Conclusion that Giovani Lo Celso would not be featuring for Argentina against Mexico, and would instead be returning to the club after picking up a groin injury.

The summer signing from Real Betis was withdrawn midway through his country’s last outing against Chile due to an issue with his groin – an injury which he himself played down – but Conclusion reports that it has been enough to see him return to north London for treatment.

Lo Celso is yet to start a game for Spurs since his arrival from Real Betis, making just three appearances from the bench so far equalling a total of 44 minutes combined.

It seems as if some of the Spurs fans below aren’t very happy with the news.

One said that he’s ‘absolutely sick’ of hearing news like this, whilst another made the somewhat reactionary statement that Spurs’ season is over following Lo Celso’s injury.

Let’s take a look at some more of the reaction from Tottenham fans on Twitter…

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Lots of Aston Villa fans have taken to Twitter to pile the praise on Douglas Luiz, after the Brazilian made a name for himself on his debut.

The centre-midfielder, who was signed from Manchester City this summer for £15m, was making his first start for the Villans against Bournemouth at Villa Park – it’s safe to say he got involved quite a fair bit.

A sloppy dummy from the 21-year-old allowed Harry Wilson to pick the ball up just outside the box and rifle one in off the post, much to Luiz’s embarrassment.

However, the youngster grew into the game and appeared to really impress the Villa fans on Twitter, who have given his performance a glowing review in the tweets below.

Find out which 33-year-old could help keep Aston Villa in the Premier league this season in the video below…

He topped off an impressive debut with a quite brilliant whipped effort from long range that went in via the woodwork.

Luiz seems to be an all-action midfielder. He made one key pass, completed two dribbles and was fouled three times, but also got involved defensively with one tackle, one interception and two clearances under his belt.

Let’s see what the visibly impressed Villa fans on Twitter have been saying about Luiz’s showing…

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Tottenham Hotspur announced on Tuesday that midfielder Jack Roles had joined Cambridge United on loan until the early stages of 2020.

The 20-year-old scored an impressive 11 goals in 29 appearances during the 2018-19 campaign, with the bulk of those matches coming for the club’s Under-23 side in the Premier League 2.

The midfielder’s path to the first team is blocked by a number of stars, however, and therefore it is not too much of a surprise to see him leave on loan.

Cambridge will provide Roles with the opportunity to get some League Two football under his belt before potentially returning to his parent club on January 5.

That said, it could well be on the cards for the loan to be extended if all goes to plan.

A number of Spurs fans have been on social media offering their views on the loan exit, and many believe that the Englishman will benefit from the move.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Friday’s West Brom’s transfer roundup shared interest in a rival striker, an approach for a 29-year-old forward and a late attempt to sign a Championship player. Today’s edition features a fee agreed for a Venezuela international, a snub from a Premier League forward and the pursuit of a Liverpool youngster.

Rondon fee agreed

According to Sky Sports’ Live Transfer Blog (15/07, 15:33), West Brom have agreed a fee with Dalian Yifang in regards to the sale of Salomon Rondon. The former Zenit St Petersburg striker is now in talks with the Chinese Super League outfit, and terms could be agreed within the next 48 hours.

Austin snubs Baggies move

Southampton striker Charlie Austin has snubbed a move to the Baggies according to Sunday’s print edition of The Mirror (14/07, page 67 – via HITC). West Brom had apparently agreed a fee for the former QPR marksman, but the 30-year-old has decided to stay with the Saints.

Johnston on radar

According to The Mirror’s Live Transfer Blog (13/07, 20:52), West Brom are interested in taking Liverpool’s George Johnston on loan for the 2019/20 season. Slaven Bilic’s team are joined by Hull City, Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End in their pursuit of the 20-year-old defender.

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Yesterday’s West Ham transfer roundup brought you an update in the pursuit of a La Liga ace, a new bid being prepared for a West Brom striker and Serie A interest in one of the club’s midfielders. Today’s edition concerns news on a Bundesliga striker, more Italian interest in Pedro Obiang and the potential exit of a wantaway forward.

Weghorst watched

According to reliable West Ham insider ExWHUemployee, the Hammers watched Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst last season. The 26-year-old Dutch centre-forward scored 18 goals in 36 games for Die Wölfe last term.

Bologna talks for Obiang

Journalist Alfredo Pedulla is reporting that Bologna have made contact over a potential swoop for Pedro Obiang. It had been reported that Parma were interested in the player, and now Bologna are keen on the Spaniard’s services as well.

West Ham to sell Arnautovic

West Ham are to sell wantaway striker Marko Arnautovic according to Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol. It had previously been reported that West Ham would only let the Austrian go for £40m, but Solhekol has now said that a Hammers source has told him that they allow him to leave in a “terrible deal” because the “manager, players and staff want him out”.

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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…

This week has been somewhat of a strange one for Leeds after their squad was split in two ahead of the trip to Australia.

Their first game down under was a 4-0 defeat against Manchester United whilst just hours later, the likes of Helder Costa and Jack Clarke were helping the players left behind to a victory over Tadcaster Albion.

The contrast between the two performances couldn’t have been greater.

Those displays may have made it easy to forget about the chaos surrounding the transfer market but speculation is failing to go away.

Kalvin Phillips has again been at the centre of attention but Mateusz Klich could also move on after Samu Saiz joined Girona for an undisclosed fee.

On the chalkboard

The fact of the matter is that if Leeds agreed to let both Klich and Saiz leave this summer it would be a considerable mistake.

Their decision to loan the latter out over the winter caused some animosity between the hierarchy and Marcelo Bielsa, but after finally agreeing to their decision the 28-year-old hardly pulled up many trees.

The Spaniard struggled for game time at Getafe but that hasn’t stopped Girona taking a punt on him.

Bielsa admitted that he was a crucial cog to the system in the first part of last season but it’s looked as though he could be off for some time after wanting to leave previously.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, with Klich attracting the interest of Burnley too, they’d be foolish to let both of them leave in the same window.

If the Poland international departs, they could be left staring at a lack of creativity in central areas.

Klich scored ten goals and racked up nine assists last term whilst his now ex-Spanish teammate set up four strikes in 19 Championship outings.

Of course, they still have Pablo Hernandez and Tyler Roberts who could influence proceedings from that area of the pitch but the latter was incredibly inconsistent, assisting two goals in his last ten games.

Only 18 players started more than ten matches in the league last season for Leeds and with problems in regards to squad depth as it is, moving both of them on fails to make much sense.

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After failing to secure Champions League football for next season, Arsenal’s reported budget this summer will be limited to just £40m.

Unai Emery’s side are on the lookout for a number of players in different positions and one of their prime targets now appears to be Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha – who is valued at £40.5m by Transfermarkt.

Now, according to Sky Sports, the Gunners have submitted a bid in the region of £40m for the Ivorian and after hearing the news that their side had entered into negotiations with the Eagles, fans of the north London side took to Twitter to share their reactions.

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Many felt the bid was far too low for Palace to even consider accepting, particularly amid reports in recent weeks that had suggested the Premier League side were demanding a figure around £100m.

Some seemed to label the Gunners’ approach to the negotiations as “embarrassing” and felt the club were simply offering them false hopes by placing a low bid for the winger.

A few supporters however were slightly more on board with the bid and felt that it was the right way to go about things by “testing the waters” for the Palace star.

Check out some of the reaction of Arsenal fans below:

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According to the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool are planning to find another loan move for Marko Grujic this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Serbian international spend the entirety of last season out on loan with Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, where it is safe to say he impressed given the glowing review he received by manager Pal Dardai.

Dardai said: “Marko is by far the best midfielder I’ve seen in my time at the club.” That is a very lofty compliment given the fact that Dardai spent 14 years as a player at the club, and has also spent seven years managing the youth team and the first-team.

You can relive Liverpool’s Champions League celebrations in glorious 2D thanks to the guys at 442oons in the video below…

Grujic, 23, netted five times last term and recorded one assist in 22 Bundesliga outings for Hertha, and the Echo report that Jurgen Klopp still thinks the midfielder has the potential to succeed at Anfield.

A loan is best for all parties

There is no doubting that the former Red Star Belgrade man has quality.

The 6 ft 3 powerhouse hasn’t done much wrong whilst on loan with Cardiff and then Hertha over the last two years, but there simply isn’t room for him to develop properly at Liverpool right now.

Klopp’s midfield currently consists of seven players – yep, seven.

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Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana are all at Klopp’s disposal, so it appears to be near impossible that Grujic would get any meaningful game time.

A loan would also allow Liverpool to retain an asset who clearly has something about him given the praise he has received, whilst Klopp is no fool when it comes to making a judgement on a player.

Loaning him out would allow his value to be retained – or even see it increase – whilst he also gets to carry on honing his skills at a club where he will hopefully be given regular game time.

أصدر نادي ليفربول المنافس في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز بيانًا رسميًا يؤكد من خلاله ترحيبه بقرار الحكومة البريطانية بعودة الجماهير إلى المدرجات بداية من الشهر المقبل.

وأعلنت الحكومة يوم أمس، الإثنين، الموافقة على حضور 4 آلاف متفرج أو 50% من السعة للأحداث الرياضية في الأماكن المفتوحة بالبلاد. (طالع التفاصيل)

وأكد ليفربول من خلال بيانه الرسمي أنه كان يفتقد لجماهيره في ملعب “أنفيلد” طوال الفترة الماضية والتي دامت أكثر من 8 أشهر بسبب جائحة فيروس كورونا المستجد، كوفيد 19.

وشدد النادي الإنجليزي أنه سيواصل العمل مع مجلس مدينة ليفربول وشرطة ميرسيسايد، من أجل وضع أفضل الإجراءات الاحترازية التي تحمي الجماهير من أجل استمرارهم في الملاعب.

الجدير بالذكر أن عودة الجماهير ستكون فور انتهاء الإغلاق الجزئي في بريطانيا يوم 2 ديسمبر المقبل.