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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has midfield options coming out of his ears right now, and the key selection dilemma must surely be causing him sleepless nights.

Take this weekend for the visit of Crystal Palace, for example.

Assuming Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Eric Dier are fit and available for selection after the club confirmed their return to training on Thursday, Pochettino has those three, plus Son Heung-Min, Christian Eriksen, Moussa Sissoko, Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, Moussa Sissoko, Harry Winks, Victor Wanyama and Oliver Skipp to choose from, for what is likely five spots in that area.

That list of names doesn’t even include summer arrival Giovani Lo Celso, who is unlikely to be back in action until November having suffered a hip injury.

While it is often said that managers would prefer to have selection headaches than not having enough good players to pick from, this might be too far the other way!

For example, a quick glance at the aforementioned list and most people would probably select Ndombele, Son and Eriksen as regular starters, with Alli another popular choice.

Yet, Sissoko, Winks and Lamela have started all four of the north London outfit’s Premier League encounters to date this term, and with the former duo also racking up 85 appearances in all competitions between them in 2018/19, it seems like they are at the forefront of their manager’s thinking.

When Lo Celso does return it will be an even more difficult decision, and Pochettino surely faces the potential issue of players becoming unhappy at their lack of minutes, even with the possibility of rotation between the top flight, the Champions League and the domestic cup competitions.

We certainly don’t envy the former Southampton boss on this particular matter.

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On paper, a draw with a team who finished seventh last term isn’t a bad result, but Cahill isn’t happy with anything less than a win.

Watch Crystal Palace Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

This post shows exactly what Cahill brings to the Eagles’ squad. He has a winning mentality that many players in the bottom half of the Premier League won’t have, and this can only have a positive impact on the rest of the side.

Fortunately, Cahill and his teammates have an excellent opportunity to put things right next week when they face off against Norwich City, who sit four places below them in the table.

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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…

Real Madrid enjoyed a successful weekend, as they beat Sevilla 1-0 away from home.

And after the clash, Zinedine Zidane perfectly summarised their weekend with a bang-on quote.

What did he say?

There were two main aspects that negatively affected Real Madrid’s ongoing 2019/20 campaign across all competitions: defensive fragility and inability to play well consistently throughout the 90 minutes of a game.

The former has been present all too regularly, and their win over Sevilla was actually their first clean sheet of the 2019/20 season.

Even before that, Los Blancos had a horrible pre-season, conceding 16 goals in a total of just five games.

The latter aspect, meanwhile, was most notably observed against Levante on matchday four.

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The Galacticos had a 3-0 lead at half-time at the Santiago Bernabeu, only to concede two goals in the latter stages of the game and almost throw the three points away.

Zidane rightfully identified both of those aspects in the post-match interview and it perfectly summarised their victory.

“We’re happy because we played the full 90 minutes at a high level at a difficult place. This is a group win and I’m happy for all the players. Sevilla have done well since the beginning of the season and we have to congratulate the players.

“We defended well and read the game well tactically. That is crucial when you take on such a big team. We knew we could score and thanks to Karim, we did so.”

A step forward

The Sevilla clash was definitely a step forward in every sense of the word for Real Madrid.

Sure, the match was far from perfect and Los Blancos only managed to record a narrow 1-0 victory over their hosts. But just by winning in Andalusia, something they hadn’t done in four years, is an achievement in itself.

And winning with a clean sheet and a persistent and consistent performance, as Zidane pointed out, makes this triumph that much bigger than it already appeared to be.

Of course, this doesn’t mean all of their problems are magically fixed after a single game but it does mean the team is working on it one step at a time.

If they can continue improving and addressing their issues like this in the future fixtures, maybe they can find something at the end of the rainbow after all.

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Arsenal were in fine form against Nottingham Forest in midweek in the League Cup.

As Unai Emery rotated his squad to give a number of his fringe players some much-needed playing time, the Gunners won 5-0. Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and Rob Holding were all on the scoresheet, whilst Gabriel Martinelli helped himself to a brace.

With Manchester United the opposition on Monday, the former Sevilla boss will name a very different team against the Red Devils. Here, we predict his starting XI.

It has been a good couple of weeks for Emiliano Martinez. First, he kept a clean sheet against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League, and then followed that up with another against Nottingham on Tuesday in the League Cup. Also, it is being reported in Argentina that he could receive a call-up to the Argentina national team. His recent form should put current first choice Bernd Leno under pressure, but the Germany international’s place is safe for now.

Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin were both making their first appearances of the season against the Championship side, but only one should start at Old Trafford. The former played 76 minutes on Tuesday and looked solid as part of a back four that didn’t concede, but another start straight away, especially against a top-four rival, could be too soon.

Bellerin only came on as a sub though and, following Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ red card last week against Aston Villa, Emery may feel compelled to give the Spain international the nod. David Luiz and Sokratis are expected to return at the heart of the backline.

A 4-3-3 formation could be used to give the side more defensive solidity. Matteo Guendouzi should come back into the side, whilst Granit Xhaka, the newly-appointed captain, should join him in the middle of the park. To add a bit of creativity from further back, Dani Ceballos should also be included.

On the right flank, Nicolas Pepe is all but guaranteed to start. Opposite him there are a couple of options, but Reiss Nelson’s display against Forest, in which he scored and assisted, should be enough to see him receive another opportunity.

In the least shocking tip of the week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will come back into the side up front. He is the Gunners’ talisman at the moment, with seven goals in seven appearances, and they will need him firing to have a chance of getting the win against the 20-time English champions.

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…

Lionel Messi is pretty good, isn’t he?

“Pretty good” would be a huge understatement and this is especially true for the little magician’s performance against Inter Milan at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Barcelona welcomed the Nerazzurri to Catalonia in the second fixture of the Champions League group stage and after a really tough 90 minutes in front of their own fans, Ernesto Valverde’s men took all three points.

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But it was anything but straightforward.

Their Italian guests even took an early lead as Lautaro Martinez slotted home in the first couple of minutes and Inter looked dangerous on numerous occasions, even tallying 11 shots on the night. By all accounts, Valverde’s back was against the wall.

But then Messi arrived.

The now 32-year-old Argentine recorded one assist but that doesn’t really do him justice at all. He also registered six key passes with an overall 85% passing accuracy and had three shots on target and ten successful dribbles. Not to mention that he created two big chances on the night as well.

Messi was magical once again but that’s what the world is expecting from him.

Still, it has to be said that he has only just returned from an injury, receiving the medical green light the night before the clash and participating in his first full training session before stepping out onto the pitches of Camp Nou to tear Inter apart.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

Not many are actually able to do what he does, especially with no match sharpness and almost no game time.

This was, in fact, Messi’s first full game of the ongoing 2019/20 campaign and now he has a total of just 210 minutes to his name.

By all accounts, not really as much as Barcelona would probably like.

But now that he’s back, the Catalans will be looking to pick up their form and start chaining together victories.

And with Messi in their side once again, few would bet against them.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

West Brom are well renowned for their academy, not just in the Midlands, but probably across the country and even in Europe.

Over the last decade, the club have produced many a young prospect, but it is more recently that it has started to benefit the senior setup.

Slaven Bilic’s Baggies side currently has Nathan Ferguson, Kyle Edwards, and Romaine Sawyers regularly featuring – no player has recorded less than ten appearances in the Championship this season.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

You can’t forget Rekeem Harper, Dara O’Shea, Sam Field or Jonathan Leko either, who are all somewhat on the fringes of the first-team fold.

Then there are the likes of Kemar Roofe, who is now at Anderlecht, Saido Berahino, Jerome Sinclair, and even Chris Wood, who have all come through Albion’s ranks over years gone by.

Players have come and gone, some haven’t represented the club, some have – but this summer, West Brom lost potentially their two brightest prospects in Louie Barry and Morgan Rogers.

The England U16 striker turned down a new contract at the Hawthorns to make the switch to La Liga giants Barcelona, with the Baggies receiving a measly £235k in compensation.

Find out how to perform one of Ronaldinho’s most insane skills in the video below…

While the club reluctantly sold Rogers to Premier League champions Manchester City for £4m, making him one of the most expensive players ever in his age bracket.

It was very nearly a case of deja vu in the space of just weeks as Harper had attracted interest from Liverpool and Juventus, but the hierarchy at Albion have only gone and clinched the man taking Barry’s hype amongst the youth set up in Jamie Soule, as he has signed a three-year contract extension.

The 18-year-old has netted 28 times across 58 appearances for both the U18s and U23s, so it was vitally important to keep him at the club as he could quite easily follow in the footsteps of Ferguson and Edwards this campaign.

It is also clear to see that Luke Dowling and co have learned from the loss of both Barry and Rogers. There was surely no chance of them letting another young prospect slip out of their grasp, especially after the sporting and technical director said this during the summer:

“We want to return to what West Brom have been good at – unearthing some gems that people might not know too much about.”

Maybe this is their best move since signing the likes of Bilic, Matheus Pereira, and Semi Ajayi.

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…

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has hailed the work being carried out at Newcastle United by Steve Bruce, and has called on the St. James’ Park faithful to back the Toon boss as they have been under-appreciating his efforts in the dugout.

What’s he said?

Bruce has overseen nine fixtures across all competitions since his arrival on Tyneside this summer as the replacement for Rafa Benitez and has orchestrated victories over Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur among those.

A Newcastle fan calls for Sean and Matt Longstaff’s Mum to give birth to a starting eleven’s worth of Longstaffs in the video below…

But the Toon have also been beaten by Norwich City and Leicester City after underwhelming displays.

The inconsistent performances by the Magpies first-team have ensured that fans are yet to fully get on side with Bruce and his tactics.

Newcastle’s fans are the best in the country in the eyes of the former Arsenal striker, but Nicholas feels they are misplacing their frustrations by taking them out on Bruce and should instead support their boss.

Speaking with Sporting Life, he described Newcastle as his biggest disappointment of the campaign, saying:

“They started to love Rafael Benitez but Steve Bruce has started better and he does not have the same impact upon the fans. The most engrossing thing for me is how the Newcastle situation has played out. They have been awful in three of those games, but they have played well in the rest. They got a win at Tottenham and they got a win against Manchester United, but it is as if they are still unhappy.

“I don’t blame them for being unhappy with Mike Ashley, but they are one of the best sets of fans in England at getting behind their team, and even more so in backing their manager. Bruce added three players – this may not have been of any significance, but he has given it a good go thus far.

“The most intriguing thing is the disappointment surrounding Newcastle. Bruce is doing a very good job, but some are hoping he doesn’t. I never quite understand the animosity towards him. Somewhere along the line, they have to give their manager a pat-on-the-back.”

Bruce’s praise will come

While Bruce’s role in Newcastle’s victories over Manchester United and Tottenham should be lauded, the Toon boss’ praise will be on ice until he can manage to organise more favourable performances against the sides the Magpies have a more realistic expectation of competing against.

Newcastle’s performance at home to Brighton in a 0-0 draw will be remembered for a long time until the Toon start to perform better, more often, and against that level of competition, as supporters will not gladly sing the name of a manager who is in charge of a team that allowed an opponent that finished 17th in the league last season to enjoy 71% of possession in their own back yard, per WhoScored.

United’s 28.7% of the ball at home to the Seagulls was only marginally below their season average, as well, with Newcastle enjoying just 37.5% per game so far this season, which is the lowest in the Premier League.

The Magpies are not creating chances, either, as a result of their lack of time in possession, with the only winless side in the league, Watford, joining Bruce’s Toon at the bottom of the shots per game chart with an average of 9.5.

Until these stats improve, Nicholas won’t be getting his wish.

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 has insisted there is “quality” in the Newcastle squad, pointing to one man in particular who could “step up” to help Steve Bruce.

Hartson gave a special shoutout to the Longstaff brothers after their performance against Manchester United, saying Newcastle fans “love a local hero”, but he was quick to draw praise to Allan Saint-Maximin.

Asked if the Frenchman could replace Ayoze Perez’s flair and skill, he told Football FanCast: “He’s a box of tricks, he’s powerful, he can cause problems. He gave Man United all sorts of problems.

“So Steve Bruce is looking for one or two of those players now to step up and to help him. It’s okay being a manager and going in and putting your stamp on it but you’re only as good as your players.”

He continued: “I think Newcastle showed at the weekend that they’ve got quality in the team.”

Verdict

Reason prevails at last. While we can certainly sympathise with Newcastle fans after a summer of frustration, some of the doom and gloom surrounding the club was way over the top, and they certainly have enough quality to keep them in the Premier League.

Signed from OGC Nice this summer for £16.5m, Saint-Maximin may well be the biggest source of that quality, as he completed a dribble every 19.8 minutes last season, placing him second in Europe behind the one and only Lionel Messi (19.2).

His big weakness at the moment is of course his end product, scoring just six league goals last term from 75 shots (8%), but he did indeed terrorise the Red Devils last weekend, setting up Jetro Willems to provide Matty Longstaff’s goal with a lung-busting run, one of four dribbles he completed on the day.

If the 22 year-old can “step up” and add some goals to his breathtaking skill on the ball, he could well be the man to save both Newcastle’s season and Bruce’s future at the club.

Manchester United’s 1999 treble-winning team will always be considered one of the greatest sides ever assembled in the Premier League.

The Red Devils achieved an unparalleled feat by winning the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League in the same season.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, despite the fact that they were so successful, there are question marks over whether or not their accomplishments could be replicated if they were around today, due to the ‘super team’ era created by Manchester City and arguably Liverpool.

Liverpool and Manchester City both achieved higher point tallies last term than the 1999 Man United team did in that season.

Inevitably, the question was put to ESPN’s pundits whether or not Sir Alex Ferguson’s treble winners would win the Premier League if they were still around, and Mark Ogden had the burden of coming up with an answer.

Ogden believes that United would still be right up there if that crop of players were playing today, but he states that it would be a three-way title race between the Red Devils, Liverpool and City.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that the pundit was stood outside Old Trafford while answering this question, it is also thought that Ogden is a United supporter, so there may have been bit of bias in his answer.

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…

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas believes Manchester City’s clash against Atalanta tonight is the perfect time to start academy graduate Phil Foden.

What did he say?

City have won their first two Champions League games in Group C, whilst the Italian side have lost to both Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk, letting in six goals along the way.

Three points for the Citizens tonight would put one firm foot in the knockout stages with three games left to play.

Nicholas suggests an easy night’s work for Pep Guardiola and, with that in mind, believes Foden should be involved.

The pundit said, per Sky Sports: “Raheem Sterling is heavily involved, you can take your pick out of Bernardo Silva, David Silva or Riyad Mahrez, while Gabriel Jesus is scoring. He will probably make three or four changes again here but I expect them to win comfortably.

“Jesus has responded when he hasn’t played, but so has Phil Foden.

“Give him some game time and get him involved. This can be the balance that gives him a starting place against Atalanta. It will be a comfortable night for City.”

Foden needs the minutes

Guardiola has shown nothing but praise for Foden over the last year, calling the 19-year-old “the most talented player” he has ever seen over the summer. Despite such an incredible claim, the Spaniard is still extremely hesitant to play him, handing the youth product just 11 minutes of Premier League action so far.

Foden did, however, come on as a substitute in the last Champions League week against Zagreb, in which he registered a goal in just three minutes of game time.

It was announced earlier on in the year that David Silva will be departing the Etihad after 10 years of extraordinary service as a playmaker. As a result, Guardiola will be on the lookout for a man to fill his boots and Foden could be that player.

However, unless he gets the minutes he needs to grow, it’s hard to see the Englishman stepping into the role so early on in his career.

Nights like these are times when he can learn his trade on the big stage, and the former Barcelona manager should start the youngster if he wants him to replace Silva in the future.