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Carlo Ancelotti must regret handing Andre Gomes a starting role in Saturday’s Merseyside Derby after witnessing the Everton midfielder struggle against Liverpool.

The Toffees hosted their Stanley Park neighbours at Goodison Park this weekend looking to maintain an unbeaten start to the season, having won each of their opening Premier League and Carabao Cup fixtures.

An early goal from Sadio Mane left Everton on the back foot from the third minute, but the Blues refused to break and moved level through Michael Keane midway through the first half.

Mohamed Salah later restored the Premier League champions lead, yet Everton were able to dig deep again through Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s tenth goal of the season and seventh in the league.

The Merseyside Derby continued to edge in Liverpool’s favour through a late sending off for Richarlison, with referee Michael Oliver showing the Brazilian a straight red card for a studs-up foul on Thiago Alcantara.

Jordan Henderson appeared to further punish Everton when his stoppage-time effort found a way past Pickford, but would be denied following a VAR check which deemed Sadio Mane to have been marginally – albeit debatably – offside in the build-up.

Everton were able to hold on and claim a draw as a result of David Coote’s decision at Stockley Park, however Ancelotti will have been questioning his decision to start Gomes having witnessed the 27-year-old struggle throughout the affair.

Gomes returned to the Everton starting line-up to face Liverpool having sat out the Blues’ 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion prior to the international break through a minor issue, marking his fourth appearance of the league season.

Ancelotti ultimately had to haul the £21.6m-rated midfielder off in the 72nd-minute once Liverpool moved into a 2-1 lead, however, after a lapse second of concentration from Yerry Mina presented Salah with his chance to strike past Jordan Pickford with a well-placed volley.

Gomes was seemingly always at least a yard off the pace during his time on the field, with the former FC Barcelona midfielder Marco Silva once hailed as “a player with high quality” (Liverpool Echo) losing possession 13 times and losing nine of his 13 duels, per SofaScore.

The £112,212-per-week man, in fact, won just three of his 12 ground duels, committed four fouls, was caught offside once, dribbled past once, misplaced each of his three long balls, failed to find a teammate with his sole cross, failed in two of three attempted dribbles, failed to record a single effort on goal and was shown a yellow card.

Gomes was able to record one key ball from his 20/26 accurate passes, two tackles and one clearance, but his overall impact on proceedings left Liverpool able to utilise their right-hand options in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah.

AND in other news, a Premier League rival has shown Everton a great deal of respect by blocking the Blues’ bid to land Carlo Ancelotti’s £10m target.

Inter Milan are ready to offer Tottenham Hotspur a swap deal for Tanguy Ndombele, reports claim.

Ndombele has divided opinion all season, despite Daniel Levy insisting he will not be sold this summer.

The 23-year-old, who is Tottenham’s record signing, has struggled to settle down under Jose Mourinho and their relationship has become increasingly strained.

According to Corriere dello Sport, as per @TranSPURS, Inter are prepared to try and prise Ndombele away from north London.

The Italian newspaper suggests Antonio Conte will use Marcelo Brozovic to sweeten the deal.

Relations between the two hit an all-time low last month, but Mourinho has backed Ndombele to succeed at Spurs.

Brozovic was a part of the Croatian side that reached the 2018 World Cup final, and it seems Conte considers him surplus to requirements.

Recent reports had revealed the Croat will be allowed to leave if Inter receive a suitable bid, although it appears he will be used as part of the negotiations for Ndombele.

Mourinho was linked with a move for Brozovic during his time in charge of Manchester United and the offer may be too tempting for him to ignore.

Try as he might, Ndombele has failed to find any consistency this season, although he has still attracted attention from clubs overseas, including Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

The £46m-valued ace has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, which hasn’t helped his case.

The Portuguese has attempted to defuse the rumours circulating online, but it is hard to deny the pair have a rocky relationship.

While Levy has made it clear that the Frenchman will not be up for sale in the summer, Mourinho may find the swap deal hard to resist, as he is well aware his budget has been severely slashed as a result of these uncertain times.

Tottenham fans, should Levy swap Ndombele for Brozovic this summer? Let us know down below!

According to The Telegraph, Aston Villa are weighing up a potential move for Norwich midfielder Todd Cantwell this summer.

What’s the word?

Following the Canaries’ relegation from the Premier League last season, all eyes are on which of their players will be leaving the club in these coming weeks.

Already, Liverpool have made a bid for left-back Jamal Lewis, and now, The Telegraph claim that Villa are eyeing up a deal for either Cantwell or Emi Buendia.

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The report claims that the Norwich duo have attracted attention from Johan Lange and co, and that they are now contemplating putting in a bid.

Perfect partner for Jack Grealish

Having beat the drop on the final day of the league campaign, Villa’s chances of keeping star man Jack Grealish went up several notches. Dean Smith’s side can now demand a premium on their play-maker, and amidst these difficult financial circumstances, the chances of him now potentially staying have surely gone up.

However, even if Grealish is to stay this summer, Villa desperately need another attacking midfielder and play-maker to share the creative burden with the England international. Step up, Cantwell.

Described as someone with a “God-given” talent by his former youth team coach, Gary Cockaday, the 22-year-old was one of the shining lights of a Norwich side that ultimately couldn’t avoid relegation.

He scored seven goals and provided two assists across all competitions, including big-game strikes against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League alone.

As per Whoscored, he averaged comfortably over one dribble and one shot per game in the top-flight, and even showed he can work within a system, making an impressive 1.4 tackles per match. Having someone like Cantwell alongside Grealish would ensure Villa have more than just one play-maker in their ranks, and give them another attacking outlet in those situations where the latter finds himself constantly marked out of games or even double-teamed.

Lange could help transform the side’s attack with a move for the Norwich ace.

Many Tottenham fans have been reacting to a tweet from the club’s official account that included a photo of Son Heung-min. 

Spurs players have finally returned to training as plans are in motion to resume the Premier League season next month. English clubs voted at a shareholder meeting on Monday to resume training in May as step one of ‘Project Restart.’

Jose Mourinho’s side are allowed to take part in small groups in non-contact sessions which will last no longer than 75 minutes per activity (Evening Standard).

Son recently completed military service with the South Korean army and he graduated as a top performer amongst his cohort, although it was initially assumed he could miss the Lilywhites’ return to the Hotspur Way training ground due to quarantine restrictions in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, contrary to popular belief, it appears the South Korea international has reunited with his teammates at the Enfield Training Centre after Spurs tweeted an image of the forward taking a selfie.

After arriving at White Hart Lane from Bayer Leverkusen for £27m back in 2015, the 27-year-old has become a fan favourite among supporters, scoring 83 goals and creating 44 assists in 220 appearances for the London club. He will now look to continue his fine form this season, as he has scored nine goals and supplied seven assists in the English top flight so far in 2019/20 (via WhoScored).

Unsurprisingly, loads of Spurs fans drooled over the club’s “beautiful” photo of the Korean. Scroll down through some of the glowing reactions below…

Tottenham fans, are you looking forward to seeing Son tear up defences when the season resumes? Let us know in the comments section!

Newcastle United fans may have missed one particular comment on the proposed takeover in the North East from Premier League chief Richard Masters after he answered questions from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (via Bryan Swanson) about the whole situation.

As per Swanson’s tweet, the CEO of the top flight said that he ‘would like the process to conclude shortly’, with reference of course to the prospective £300 million deal.

This comment alone could be read as a sign that a final decision by England’s highest division on the bid could be made very soon considering that even Masters himself seems to want the entire saga to end.

Indeed, the takeover has experienced delay after delay following the accusations from Qatar against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) that they were running the pirate TV channel beoutQ in their own country, therefore breaching international laws that state that the Qataris are the only country in the Middle East to have the rights to show live football games from the Premier League.

This did not sit down well with the league itself, and matters have been further complicated by accusations from Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the late journalist Jamaal Khashoggi, who has complained on numerous occasions to the top flight that the Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who is set to own 80 per cent of the Tyneside club, was allegedly involved in his murder.

England’s highest division may have to question whether he should pass their Owners’ and Directors’ Test (ODT), potentially another stumbling block with the bid.

Nevertheless, Masters seems to have suggested that a decision of approval is imminent judging by his comment, which would surely boost the morale of the St. James’ Park faithful.

Geordies, do you think that a decision on the takeover imminent? Comment below!

Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday morning, former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gary Lineker has issued his verdict after Spurs star Harry Kane raised question marks over his long-term future with them on Sunday.

What did he say?

Well, in an Instagram Q&A with Jamie Redknapp on Sunday evening, the 26-year-old said, via The Guardian: “I love Spurs, I’ll always love Spurs but I’ve always said if I don’t feel we’re progressing as a team or going in the right direction, I’m not someone to stay there for the sake of it.

“I’m an ambitious player, I want to improve, get better and become one of the top, top players. It all depends on what happens as a team and how we progress as a team. So it’s not a definite I’m going to stay there forever, but it’s not a no either.”

In reponse to those quotes, Lineker told talkSPORT: “It’s understandable. He’s a top class player and one of the great strikers in world football. There’s bound to be a degree of frustration with the recent progress of Spurs.

“He’s just being very honest, isn’t he really. He’s just basically saying if they don’t go on to win things, because every player wants to win things in their career.

“You can’t really criticise him too much for having that view. He’s been there a long time at the club now, and he’s been brilliant.”

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Is Lineker right?

He certainly is.

Kane turns 27 in July and he will know that he is at a stage of his career now – approaching his prime – where he will want to start winning trophies.

The Three Lions skipper should be confident that when fit, he could go to pretty much any team in the world and score goals, and compete for silverware.

If he doesn’t feel like he can do at Tottenham – he is yet to win anything so far – then he clearly isn’t ready to hang around.

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A poor 2019/20 campaign certainly won’t have helped matters in his own thoughts, with Spurs way off the pace in the Premier League and being knocked out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage too, as well as being beaten 7-2 by Bayern Munich on their own turf back in October.

The one positive is that they do have a serial winner in Jose Mourinho at the helm now, and with the right backing from chairman Daniel Levy and ENIC, they could perhaps be contenders across all of the competitions.

It remains to be seen whether that happens in the next transfer window.

In other Tottenham news, Jose Mourinho can kill two birds with one stone by signing reported 28-year-old Spurs transfer target…

Everton fan account @thetoffees_com has put the question of ‘Keep or Sell?’ to fellow Blues supporters and the player in question is Alex Iwobi.Â

A lot of Evertonians have decided that the winger’s time at Goodison Park has run out and they would like to see him moved on in the summer.

Iwobi joined the club from Arsenal last summer for a rising fee of £34 million (via BBC Sport), but as he approaches one calendar year with the Merseyside outfit, he has left much to be desired on the pitch.

The Nigerian international has scored just one Premier League goal this season and has tallied a total of two goals and one assist across all competitions (via Transfermarkt).

It seems fans aren’t willing to give Iwobi another season to prove himself, as a lot have flocked to the Keep or Sell tweet to air their opinions on him leaving the club. One Blue has said signing the winger was ‘awful business’ whilst another has commented ‘throw in the bin’ when discussing his future.

What’s your opinion, Blues fans? Should Everton keep or sell Alex Iwobi this summer? Join the discussion in the comments!

Real Madrid are really having a true rollercoaster ride of a season, to say the very least.

Before the ongoing 2019/20 campaign even kicked off, Los Blancos had been destined to fail. After all, they’ve experienced their worst pre-season in a total of 39 years and Zinedine Zidane’s scalp – if he had any hair to begin with – was bound to end up next to the ones of the Galacticos’ two previous managers.

But as the season went on, Real Madrid flew higher than most would expect, even staying unbeaten up until matchday nine in La Liga and enjoying the view from the very peak of the mountain until Barcelona ultimately leapfrogged them when they slipped in an away game at Mallorca.

Granted, they somewhat recovered from that upset with a narrow 1-0 triumph over Galatasaray, tallying their first Champions League victory in the ongoing competition after three games played.

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But if that unconvincing win was the indication that Zidane’s gala lineup, or rather his “plan A”, has certain issues to resolve, then the agonising defeat to Mallorca a couple of days prior to that certainly indicates that plan B doesn’t even exist.

If we take a look at the Galacticos the Frenchman chose to field against the newly-promoted side, we can easily see that rotation was the name of the game.

After all, the likes of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale, Lucas Vazquez and Daniel Carvajal were all absent due to various reasons – some were injured and some simply rested – and Real Madrid suddenly felt out of sorts, out of chances and out of their usual mojo.

Needless to say, for all the money they’ve spent during the summer, and all the banking for the future and squad depth those purchases were supposed to give them, their bench actually looks non-existent.

And sure, this might be a harsh verdict on the players that were rarely given a chance to begin with so it would be a stretch to expect top-notch performance from them whenever they are picked.

But if you spend €300m (£259.1m) on various signings, regardless of what role they’re supposed to play, you probably expect them to give you at least something in return.

And maybe it was just a fluke – after all, back when Real Madrid faced Osasuna on matchday six of La Liga, Zidane also opted to deploy a highly weakened and rotated squad and yet, they mustered a comfortable 2-0 victory and tallied three points against a tricky opponent.

That night, they were – once again – without the likes of Hazard, Bale, Modric and even Marcelo but it wasn’t really that felt in their display.

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

If anything, that made us believe that Zidane could once again be utilising his tactic way back from 2016/17 when Real Madrid last won the league title.

Back then, rotations were a big part of their campaign and back then, Zidane’s plan B was almost as effective as his plan A.

The likes of Eibar, Sporting Gijon and Granada, among others,  were all beaten with rotated squads, some even swept away, and it played a major role in their season.

The direct result of that? A coveted league title under their belts.

But many players were sold, some were never replaced and others were but their “copies” proved to be not as good as the “originals”, as it often is with everything in life.

The season has just started, however, and maybe the newcomers will start clicking and once they adapt, Real Madrid’s fortune may shift once again.

After all, we’ve seen them do that multiple times before, even as recently as this term.

Just when you feel that they are down, they claw their way back to the top. But this lack of any real squad depth or rather, quality squad depth, could cost them in the long run.

What happens when the players from the gala squad burn out? The likes of Benzema and Casemiro have barely had a day off since the very start of the season.

The duo are the two most-used players of the ongoing campaign and neither have replacements of adequate quality or any replacements at all – The Brazilian is the only natural defensive midfielder in the squad while the Frenchman’s substitute is a man with just 292 minutes to his name.

It’s quite ironic, isn’t it? A team that has an estimated value of over one billion pounds doesn’t have enough quality players to cover all positions properly.

By all standards, this is a major flaw in their squad and one Zidane will want to somehow address as quickly as possible.

After all, often it is the bench that wins you the title, and at the moment, it very much feels like Real Madrid don’t have a bench at all.

According to The Telegraph, David Moyes has emerged as a genuine option to replace Marco Silva as head coach of Everton.

Silva remains in his position at Goodison Park, but the pressure on the Portuguese has increased following Saturday’s 2-0 home loss to Norwich City.

The Toffees actually entered the clash with the Canaries off the back of two wins in their last three outings but were undone at Goosdison Park.

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According to The Telegraph, the Merseyside giants are considering re-appointing Moyes on a deal until the end of the season.

The 56-year-old, who has been without a managerial position since leaving West Ham United last year, was previously in charge of Everton between 2002 and 2013.

As expected, a number of the club’s fans have been commenting on suggestions that Moyes could be heading for a return.

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And it would be fair to say that the majority are against the club making such a move, even considering their inconsistency under Silva.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Charlton Athletic continued their rich vein of form in the Championship by holding the league leaders on their own patch.

Lee Bowyer’s side came away with a share of the spoils against a West Brom team that has lost just once all season.

The Baggies were handed the lead through Matty Phillips after just ten minutes before Macauley Bonne netted his fourth in as many matches to equalise just after the hour mark.

Nathan Ferguson received his marching orders for a rash challenge soon after, meaning Albion were down to ten men for the final 20 minutes or so, and that didn’t stop them then taking the lead after substitute Hal Robson-Kanu curled a scorcher past Dillon Phillips.

But in a moment of controversy, Naby Sarr was fouled inside the penalty area to hand the Addicks a 94th-minute penalty, which saw Josh Cullen step up and duly dispatch home.

Snapshot

Within ten minutes of the red card, Bowyer withdrew one of his most threatening outlets in Erhun Oztumer for Chuks Aneke, who is yet to start a league game this campaign.

This was a move that allowed West Brom back into the game despite only having ten men as Charlton now were without a man that provided two key passes and created one big chance, per SofaScore.

While the 26-year-old failed to have any impact on the match, failing to register a single successful dribble while losing possession four times from just 20 touches.

Beram Kayal didn’t come on until they were chasing the game with just three minutes left – had he come on sooner, maybe instead of Aneke, then Charlton could well have come away with more than just a point.

Off the Bench

The 31-year-old is exactly the sort of man you’d need in either seeing the game out at 1-1 or taking the initiative against ten men to try and win the game.

He’s won multiple Scottish Premier League titles with Celtic, won promotion from this very league with Brighton & Hove Albion, and has featured in both the Premier League (37 appearances) and on international stage (44 caps).

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That’s a list of accolades that not many amongst the Addicks squad can say they have.

As a box-to-box midfielder, he could have offered the ideal level of support in the attack, while also providing some solidity in defence.

He is also described as having ‘quick feet, passing ability, and a combative edge,’ meaning he would have been a far more excellent option than Aneke, who has played just 214 total minutes of football in the league this season.