Month: July 2020

Jordan Henderson, Footballer of the Year, Jamie Vardy Goldon Boot winner, Lallana joins Brighton, Pep considering Brazil!

THIS WEEK IN FOOTBALL

TOP STORY

Jordan Henderson, Footballer of the Year

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The football writers named Jordan Henderson as their man of the season sending a message out. A well earned reward for the captain of Liverpool, Premier League winners this season.

We would like to congratulate JH with this special trophy as he is one of the most underestimated players in the World today. His impact over years have been phenomenal and this is well deserved.

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VIDEO TALK

Jamie Vardy, Goldon Boot winner

Jamie Vardy wins the Goldon Boot award after scoring 23 goals in the Premier League this season. He is a very important player for his team and still lively and better than most at the age of 33.

Great to see him up there as he is an example to follow, staying loyal to his club and keeping his form and performances at the top shelf.

MATCH ACTION

Man Utd secure Champions League spot after 2-0 away v. Leicester City

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Leicester City had it all in their hands but chances were missed and in the end Manchester United snatched the Champions Leauge spot as well as winning the game 2-0 with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard.

Never miss the daily updates on all results and season stats.

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BOOK TALK

I, Robot

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Don’t miss out this one, a book well worth reading and of course one that you also can have a look at while considering a buy, Peter Crouch is a great read, and his knowledge and long and broad career in the game could give you a few surprises!

TRANSFERS

Adam Lallane joins Brighton & Hove Albion

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This week a number of new moves are on and the fact that Adam Lallane is back at the south coast is now a fact signing on a free for Brighton & Hove Albion after a long stay at Anfield and sealing that great Premier League win before his departure.

Never miss a single transfer, click here

RUMOURS

Pep considering Brazil?

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To see this rumour turning up was a surprise, but thinking about it, would be the ideal match between a coach wiht a vision to entertain and at the same time be best in defendig as well, as always never missing a single rumour.

All rumours as they appear minute by minute.

SOCCERVOICE

Weekly Updates

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Don’t miss out on all Soccervoice updates published during the week, special blog topics from past and present. This update will appear every Tuesday and you will find it published from our Twitter and Facebook pages as well. We are also on Pinterest and Instagram.

This week you will find a blog talk about Stoke City, and of course new updates at our Focus On – Vintage section and also a new player or two in our England specials.

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Bielsa to Barca?, Tottenham eye Callum Wilson, QPR selling Eze at £20million

According to Mail Online, Marcelo Bielsa is the name Lionel Messi has addressed as the new man to take charge of Barcelona. If that rumour is correct and an approach is made, it would be interesting to follow and see what could happen.

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Tottenham are favorites in the race for Callum Wilson as the Bournemouth forward is one player that most certainly will leave before next season, even if The Cherries are to stay up or not. A signing of Wilson would give Jose Mourinho more options up front and a number of different types to select from.

Highly rated Eberechi Eze will not leave QPR if a bid is below £20million. The 22 year old forward is one of the hottest players below the Premier League, and his name is often seen attached to several rumours with Leicester City and West Ham together with Everton among those chasing, even Arsenal and Tottenham have been linked.

Kepa looks finished at Chelsea and is eager to get a move away from Stamford Bridge this summer. It’s said that the Spanish goalkeeper will even consider a paycut just to split company with Frank Lampard. A few slip up’s has seen The Blues losing vital points in the run for a Champions League spot next season.

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Former England U.17 World Cup winner Rhian Brewster has been in great form at Swansea City this season. He is currently loaned out  to the Championship club and will be so through the play-off’s. Jurgen Klopp might have an idea of how he will nurse forward the talent of this player, and is said that playing next season at a Premier League club would be a serious option with Sheffield United said to be favorites in that race.

To see the name of Harvey Barnes linked to Liverpool is a bit of a surprise, but this rumour have turned up a lot lately. The pace and work rate of Harvey Barnes and the fact that he is setting up a number of goals, both assisting and scoring must have thrilled Jurgen Klopp if this is true.

Mirror Sport reports that Roy Hodgson is likely to leave his post at Crystal Palace, and that Burnley boss Sean Dyche is the one to be approached, but would it be possible to get him to leave Turf Moor?

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Mikel Arteta has to be carefull with his spendings in front of next season and to get his transfer correctly might have to sell to find the right players. But hopefully will be able to keep his key men, with both Lacazette and Aubameyang linked away.

Kai Havertz (21) looks certain to join Timo Werner at Chelsea, and hopefully bond in a partnership that could see a new PL champion team build at Stamford Bridge. It’s said that the move from Bayer Leverkusen will be happening shortly.

Velez Sarsfield winger Thiago Almada (19) would fancy a chance to play under Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United. One of the brightest talents in Argentina at the moment will soon see offers from clubs in Europe appear with Manchester United and Manchester City both showing interest.

 

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Stoke City FC, club report, the past, the present and the future

We all know what type of tradition this club are bearing, and how fans might be totally in limbo at the moment, seeing their team in decline from previous seasons. Ending 15th in “tier 2” might not be as expected.

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The Potters left the best party after the 2017/18 season and with their financial robust owners most believed their stay down would be short lived and a return to the top would happen as fast as lightening, but that has not happened, seeing a surprising decline in performances over the last couple of seasons.

A lot has happened since the days of Tony Waddington who had a 17 year spell in charge for the club that played their home games at Victoria Park. On the manager front these days you seldom see a manager in charge for such a long period and the fact that current and newly appointed Michael O’Neill has just been around for a few months really shows the grand picture of the situation.

We have seen this phenomena at so many “giants” and while some clubs manage to get out of it and rise like the Phoenix, others will see the downfall even worse than Stoke City have experienced so far. But will Michael O’Neill be able to bring on the tradition and get this club up and flying again?, It looks possible but a number of changes must be done regarding players and in a season or two it could be possible, but without patience and new manager sackings you will not be able to get there.

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So if you say Stoke City what comes to your mind? Thinking of players of recent years you get three names fast as lighetning, Peter Crouch, Rory Delap and Xherdan Shaqiri, all of them characters who had a key with their special skills. Crouch and his goalscoring, Delap with his throw-in’s and Shaqiri lifting the crowd with his creativity and often blistering performances.

Stoke City reached the FA Cup final in 2012, and that is not that long ago, but they did see a defeat v. Manchester City and the only major silverware in the cabinet is that League Cup trophy won in 1972. It was of course with the legendary Tony Waddington in charge, and with players such as Mike Pejic, Jimmy Greenhoff and Terry Conroy in the line-up.

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Those Talisman moments when Terry Conroy scored from a header and later George Eastham settled the 2-1 winning score, will never be forgotten, and of course be days you would like to see return, but how?

Michael O’Neill has made it possible to “escape” from relegation this season and hopefully will add the power to the squad that can make this great club again push for a place in the top . Hopefully soon the tunes of Delilah again can be heard before, under and after games in the Premier League.

 

 

 

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VAR, a bigger “virus” than covid 19, we need to kill it and get rid of it

There are leagues that still depend on the referee and don’t use VAR, and it goes perfectly ok, and you don’t have all the disturbance and silly waiting that you see in Premier League football at the moment.

The goal line techology is even under treath as we could see in the game between Sheffield United and Aston Villa, and of course human errors are the reason for it. As long as humans decide as they always do in the end, you don’t need this stupid system.

From being positive to the technology and the introduction of it, it changed to negative after watching the charade for a season. It’s time to act and get rid of it completely, goal line technology, VAR and every part of it, since the referee in the end has to decide.

The referee’s will also make errors in the future, but the way they have treated VAR it might be a time to let football be football and not a game of decission making, that is just something addressed to keep it floating and to have certain guidelines, but it should not interfer the way it does at the moment.

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We know that the game have changed over the years and especially the goalkeeper rule that was changed a few years back made it less easier to stop the game and for the goalkeeper to disrupt and delay time. There are slight changes in rules all the time, one of the later once, is the kick off which looks a bit silly as you can play the ball backwards with one kick instead of one forward and the next backward.

We all know that penalty kicks was something also introduced to the game later on as it had been played without it and not introduced before 1902. It was a lot of discussion even then about this change as it is with VAR at the moment.

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The penalty kick is still there and no one argues about it anymore, it’s natural, if VAR will survive is another matter, since it’s a devided game over the globe, somene use it and others don’t. The rules should be the same all over and not complicated with these type of technology making it even more difficult to decide and not even then get it correctly.

Would like to see a season totally without the technology to get a good view of it all, but FIFA and UEFA might be in difficulties as the technology has a business related matter that might see this continue with financial dilemmas connected to it.

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