The Baggies’ new man in midfield Romaine Sawyers only returned to the club this summer after six years away, but it’s clear to see that he’s already becoming a fan favourite amongst the Hawthorns faithful.
The 27-year-old joined the club from fellow Championship side Brentford last month having left West Brom as an academy graduate back in 2013 to find regular game time elsewhere.
His exit saw him remain in the west Midlands by joining Walsall before following his then-manager Dean Smith to the Bees where he became an influential member of their team, captaining them during spells of last season.
Sawyers responded to the club’s tweet which was regarding himself…
Fans were quick to praise their midfielder following the comparison he had made, with one individual claiming he will be up there with the legends he mentioned if he remains humble and keeps doing what he’s doing.
Others called him a ‘Rolls-Royce of a player’ as well as a ‘legend already’.
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One supporter even said the 27-year-old is the heir apparent for the captaincy in the future when Chris Brunt eventually hangs up the reins.
Some Celtic fans don’t like the way winger Scott Sinclair has been treated this season, as he’s been reduced to a bit-part role under Neil Lennon.
Then 30-year-old has only featured for 56 minutes this term, yet managed to net a brilliant backheel in the Celts’ 3-1 win in Bosnia against FK Sarajevo.
The winger has seen his influence on the side drop year-on-year since arriving at Parkhead in 2016, yet still played a significant part in the last campaign. Despite it being his quietest season in green and white, the ex-Swansea man scored 17 times in his 55 appearances last year.
That looked as if it would be his last season at Parkhead, with Preston and Sheffield United linked to his services this summer. Yet, Lennon failed to get rid of him before the English window closed last week and it would appear he’ll still be a Celtic player until at least January.
And plenty of fans believe if he’s going to stick around then he should get a second chance after he was left out of the crunch tie against Cluj.
Many see him as a better player than his competition, Lewis Morgan, and think he can still do a job for their club. Take a look at some of the best Twitter verdicts down below…
Whether you are from the lower leagues or fighting at the top of the Premier League, the magic of the cup competitions can create upsets and shocking results.
Heavy favourites are triumphed by smaller clubs and the fans are rewarded with a memorable day for themselves and the club’s history.
Giant-killings remain apparent in today’s game and despite the money invested into the top-flight, the lower-league teams are still capable of producing an upset.
Whether it be the FA Cup or League Cup, winning a trophy remains a large incentive for most teams across England and the best matches often spark from a will to progress to the next round of the respective competition.
Nothing beats a cup upset and there have been multiple notable ones over the years, and we take a look at 15 of the most shocking cup upsets in English football…
15. Liverpool 2-2 Northampton Town, League Cup Third Round 2010
A League Two club knocking any Premier League team out is an impressive accomplishment, let alone a club as big as Liverpool.
Northampton travelled to Anfield and piled misery onto the Reds, knocking them out courtesy of a penalty shoot-out and stunned the footballing community.
14. Chelsea 2-4 Bradford City, FA Cup Fourth Round 2015
Bradford went to Stamford Bridge and produced an incredible comeback. The visitors were 2-0 down before firing four goals and sending shock waves across the UK.
The Bantams marched 0n into the fifth round of the competition for the first time in 18 years.
13. Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester City, FA Cup Final 2013
Ben Watson’s 91st minute winner at Wembley against giants Manchester City was a special day to remember for the Wigan supporters.
Despite winning the FA Cup, the Latics were relegated the same season but nothing could take away their outstanding victory.
Copyright: Mirrorpix
12. Norwich City 0-1 Luton Town, FA Cup Fourth Round 2013
Who doesn’t love a non-league triumph? Luton went to Carrow Road and wrote themselves into the history books with a remarkable victory.
Luton’s win meant they were the first non-league team to knock out a top-flight side out of the FA Cup since 1989.
11. Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Coventry City, FA Cup Final 1987
Coventry City’s players celebrate their 3-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.16th May 1987.
Spurs were appearing in their third domestic cup final in seven years while Coventry were experiencing their first ever domestic cup final, but that did not stop the latter from toppling the giants.
A five-goal thriller was edged by Coventry after 120 minutes of football and goes down as one of the greatest shocks in history.
Copyright: Mirrorpix
10. Ipswich Town 1-0 Arsenal, FA Cup Final 1978
Ipswich’s only FA Cup win in their history came in remarkable fashion. They came up against an outstanding Arsenal team and were underdogs heading into the match.
However, Roger Osborne had other ideas and scored the only goal of the occasion to produce a major shock at Wembley.
Copyright: Mirrorpix
9. QPR 3-2 West Bromwich Albion, League Cup Final 1967
QPR beat Birmingham City in the League Cup semi-final 3-1 (pictured above) and it set them on the road to a cup final upset.
The Hoops were hopping and they narrowly surpassed Sheffield Wednesday in a five-goal thriller. The third-tier side prevailed on the day and wrote themselves into history.
Copyright: Mirrorpix
8. Bournemouth 2-0 Manchester United, FA Cup Third Round 1984
Third-tier Bournemouth were managed by a young Harry Redknapp at the time and they dumped the holders out of the competition.
The Cherries players were promised £200 reward money and free pizza for their victory, but it never materialised…
Copyright: Mirrorpix
7. Sutton 2-1 Coventry, FA Cup Third Round 1989
Coventry won the FA Cup the season prior and arrived in Sutton with ambitions of retaining the cup, but the non-league outfit had other ideas.
It was supposed to be a routine victory for the visitors but the magic of the FA Cup struck again to the delight of the home supporters.
Copyright: Mirrorpix
6. Sunderland 1-0 Leeds United, FA Cup Final 1973
They may have been in Division Two when this final was played, but that did not prevent Sunderland from succeeding against high-flying Leeds at Wembley.
Ian Porterfield’s first-half strike was enough to cause a shock on the big stage.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Just when we thought the Neymar saga had finally reached its conclusion, Mundo Deportivo broke a story suggesting that Barcelona will remain attentive to the Brazilian’s performances at Paris Saint-Germain, with a view to re-signing him in the future.This might not be the best piece of news for everyone in Ernesto Valverde’s squad. What’s the word, then?
Neymar ended up staying in France despite his and Barcelona’s efforts to get him back to Catalunya, the place he left two years ago. But whoever thought the closing of the summer transfer window would signal the end of the sag was very wrong. Mundo Deportivo claim that Blaugrana will monitor the Brazilian throughout the 2019/20 season and will then decide their next move.
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But if he performs like they expect him to, they will return and try to sign him next year. The same Catalonian outlet also reported that Neymar will have a set release clause by FIFA come next year and that Barcelona, or anyone else for that matter, will be able to claim the player for €170m (£153.7m) if they wish to do so.
All of that suggests the Brazilian will have a higher chance of leaving in 2020 than he had in 2019. This might play right into Barcelona’s hands but might also spell doom for Ousmane Dembele.
A clear sign
It really does sound quite simple: if Neymar comes, Dembele will have little to no part to play in this team.
That much was already spelt out for him once he was reportedly offered as a bargaining chip in one of Barcelona’s last offers to Paris-Saint Germain. Even now, when there’s no Neymar in the team, Dembele is probably going to struggle to break into a starting XI that could plausibly boast Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann.
The signs are already there: Barcelona are slowly losing patience when it comes to their 22-year-old superstar and their second-highest purchase in the history of the club. Sure, Dembele can be slotted on either of the wings but both of those positions are likely to be occupied by one of the aforementioned superstars.
Maybe he gets some game time as a sub here and there but his struggle to remain fit alongside his youth and inexperience all play against him at the moment. Of course, those problems can be ironed out with enough time but it still remains to be seen whether Dembele will have the luxury of getting enough time to develop.
If Neymar’s potential return already threatened his role at the club, it could completely seal it come the next one.
Having joined West Ham last summer for a reported £36m from Italian side Lazio, Felipe Anderson showed more than enough signs that he could develop into a truly top-class signing for the Hammers.
The Brazil international fired in ten goals in 40 games across all competitions in his debut campaign for the team, and has started this season well too.
Despite not getting on the score-sheet against Norwich at the London Stadium on Saturday, Anderson delivered a virtuoso performance for Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
The 26-year-old registered three shots and three key passes in the 87 minutes he was in the game, and had a joint game-high six successful dribbles too.
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After seeing the Brazilian’s fine display, West Ham fans flooded to Twitter to hail the former Lazio star.
Many Hammers supporters thought he completely terrorised the Norwich defence, with one fan suggesting he had “scared the living daylights” out of the Canaries.
Some fans even insisted Anderson could lay claim to being the best player outside of the Premier League’s top six after his impressive performance.
Check out some of the reaction from West Ham fans below:
Denmark fans on Twitter ripped into Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen following his performance in the disappointing 0-0 draw against Georgia on Sunday.
The nation had the chance to go top of Group D – above the Republic of Ireland – with a win in Tbilisi at the weekend, but they failed to get it in what was a largely dour contest between the two countries.
Supporters may well have been expecting another big showing from their 27-year-old talisman after he scored two and assisted a further two in the 6-0 thrashing of Gibraltar on Thursday, but it wasn’t forthcoming.
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The Spurs man, who has one goal in four outings for the north London outfit this term, failed to grab the scrappy encounter by the scruff of the neck, and made little impact in the final third for the Danes despite playing in a No.10 role.
It was something that didn’t go unnoticed by Denmark supporters on the popular social media platform, who wasted little time in criticising Eriksen for his display.
While one labelled him as “frighteningly poor”, another told him directly “you disappointed us today”.
Rangers have announced the signing of promising youngster Umaro Balde from Sporting Lisbon to their development squad last night.
The Portuguese U15 international has been linked with a permanent move for some time having joined the club, initially on trial, as long ago as May.
Little is known about Balde although he has vowed not to disappoint Rangers fans having been given the privilege of a contract at the famous Glasgow giants.
Rangers fans took to Twitter in their droves to show their support for the youngster and although most transfers are met with the obligatory YouTube video, Balde’s age and lack of first team appearances have meant fans will need to wait to get a glimpse of what he is capable of. This didn’t stop them making him feel at home though.
[ad_pod ]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…It’s all well and good beating Watford 6-0. In fact, it’s brilliant to beat a Premier League’s academy side by that high a margin.Leeds’ level of victory over the Hornets in the Professional Development League on Monday evening was emphatic. However, was it too surprising? Probably not.For the Whites, they fielded an incredibly strong side, one that had Luke Ayling in it.The right-back was returning from injury as he ramped up his fitness levels for the U23s with a goal and assist. It was a performance from the former Arsenal man that even had their opposition annoyed that he played.
But remarkably, Ayling was not the oldest man to feature in a supposed U23s clash. Also gaining minutes was Barry Douglas and Gaetano Berardi.
Eddie Nketiah played his part, as did Tyler Roberts, another to step up his return from an injury problem.
A 6-0 win with effectively what was Marcelo Bielsa’s B team was quite the statement.
But it’s not the first time it’s come into play. Nketiah has played at this level for Leeds before while Helder Costa even got game time for the U23s earlier this season.
As Yorkshire Evening Post state, it has become the ‘Bielsa way’ to do such a thing.
In charge of the U23s is Carlos Corberan and he has guided his team through an unbeaten start. 0-0 draws against Bristol City and Crystal Palace had come before this so to see the goals flow was a welcome relief.
That game against Palace was an anomaly in the system for the U23s. Because of international duty, Corberan actually got a chance to take a stronger glance at those coming through the academy, rather than fielding first-team players.
Building the fitness of those on the fringes is a cunning tactic but it’s not necessarily a wise one, especially for the academy players who are striving for playing time themselves.
With that in mind, a change of thought must occur otherwise those in the youth system could feel negative effects.
Bielsa had handed ten debuts to players under the age of 21 by the time January had come around but the next crop coming through aren’t going to progress unless they play for the U23s.
That is a chance that has rarely been afforded in the PDL this term. Despite going unbeaten, you sense that the younger members are likely to learn far more in games that are closer and tougher.
With a host of senior players featuring, they won’t be able to take much from a 6-0 thrashing and thus, the ‘Bielsa way’ must be changed, certainly at U23 level.
A former Academy Player of the Year in Callum Nicell left this summer and unless players like him actually progress in the U23s and get their chance ahead of first-teamers, it could have a damning impact.
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 taken the north London club as far as he can in current circumstances, and the only way he can take them further is if a major exit happens.
The Argentine’s comments, as reported by Football London’s Alasdair Gold, following the embarrassing Carabao Cup exit against League Two outfit Colchester United on Tuesday – saying that he needs to sort his squad out in January and next summer – told you all you need to know.
It’s only been a few weeks since the previous transfer window closed for European clubs, and from those words it appears as though the 47-year-old wasn’t happy with how things panned out.
He has three key first-team players whose contracts run out next summer in Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, with the former rejecting every contract he has been offered by Daniel Levy as he waits on a proposal from Real Madrid, according to Marca.
If those three leave for nothing, which looks conceivable right now, how much would Tottenham have to spend to replace them? Lots is the answer when you consider the world-record price tags of centre-back duo Virgil van Dijk and Harry Maguire, and it’s difficult to see that sort of spending being sanctioned by the top brass.
On top of that he has current first-choice full-backs Danny Rose and Serge Aurier, both of whom the club were reportedly willing to sell just a few months ago.
Pochettino didn’t get Paulo Dybala on deadline day, and he has been left with a bloated squad that is struggling to deliver results on the pitch following the closure of the European equivalent.
All is not well at Spurs right now and the blame may lie with one man – Levy.
It seems as though the 57-year-old hasn’t delivered exactly what his manager wanted in terms of his squad for the 2019/20 campaign, and that friction has been clear – Pochettino even had to hold clear-the-air talks with his chairman last month.
It is a recurring theme at Tottenham and following Levy’s recent comments that Tottenham won’t loosen their purse strings in the future, Pochettino has surely taken the club as far as he can as the situation is now.
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You certainly wouldn’t blame him if he was eyeing up moves to the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid, where he would more than likely be heavily backed in the transfer market.
While Tottenham have spent big on Ndombele, it doesn’t appear as though they have the financial clout to buy two or three players for a similar £63m fee in one window.
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In that respect, Levy needs to go if Pochettino wants to take Tottenham any further, and that is unlikely given he has been at the helm for 21 years and has shown no sign that he could be ready to leave the role.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Loan Watch series, which takes a closer look at those players who are aiming to galvanise their careers away from the spotlight of their parent club.
Philippe Coutinho’s Barcelona story is probably one of the most interesting and confusing ones in recent times.
Coming in hot from Liverpool and becoming Blaugrana’s most expensive purchase in the history of the club suggested the 27-year-old Brazilian would slot right in alongside the superstars in Catalunya.
Or at least, that’s what the price tag and his reputation demanded right from the get-go.
But it’s safe to say that it wasn’t to be.
Whether it was down to Ernesto Valverde’s management, Barcelona’s system and style of play or just the player’s inability to adapt to different scenery are now irrelevant. The main thing is that he’s no longer there, at least for now.
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Coutinho was shipped off on loan to Bayern Munich during the summer and so far, he’s already lighting up the Bundesliga.
The Brazilian has registered 1.3 shots, two key passes and 1.3 dribbles per game in the competition in the 192 minutes he has spent on the pitch for the Bavarians. In that time, he has both scored and registered an assist.
But Coutinho’s best performance perhaps came against Koln as Bayern strolled to a 4-0 triumph on the night. He registered one goal, one assist, a sublime seven key passes, five shots and recorded 85.7% passing accuracy.
By all standards, this was a masterclass.
According to Whoscored, Coutinho was also named Man of the Match with a near-perfect game-highest 9.77 rating.
We still don’t know what the future holds for the 27-year-old star but if he continues prospering at Bayern Munich, we could see his stay in Bavaria made permanent.
We’re a way off the end of his loan deal and it remains to be seen if his form can continue; it has, however, got off to the best possible start.