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The Sky Bet Championship is back at the end of the week and the bonus is that there are no more international breaks for a few months now.

The second tier is looking as tight as ever right now, as well, but it does seem as though a couple of sides down near the bottom need to improve their form and fast before they get cut adrift.

Barnsley, promoted from League One last year, are one of those sides and the Tykes will be hoping their new manager can help steer them to safety.

Indeed, it’s been a while since Daniel Stendel left the club but it seems as though the men from Oakwell are edging towards a new appointment now.

This comes from Ronan Murphy:

It’s caused a fair bit of reaction on Twitter, too – and not just from Barnsley fans – so let’s take a look at what has been said on the social media site:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Leeds United have been touted to have a quiet January transfer window by Victor Orta in recent weeks, but Noel Whelan’s latest transfer hint reveals just how quiet the window might be.

What’s the story?

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan stated that his sources from inside Elland Road have told him that the club aren’t looking to sign anyone in the January transfer window.

We were never expecting a flurry of activity from the Yorkshire club once the window opens, but hearing that no incomings are expected is still rather disheartening.

Not only does it make for a boring transfer window, but the Whites’ lack of activity may negatively affect their promotion chances.

Same story

It’s the same story as last season, the Whites didn’t strengthen enough in January and in the end, it cost them their shot at promotion.

Based on that, supporters would have every right to moan at Andrea Radrizzani if it happens again.

Marcelo Bielsa’s teams are renowned for losing steam towards the back end of a season, so having strength in depth will undoubtedly be key if Leeds want to continue challenging at the top end of the table. Last campaign, the Whites failed to win any of their final four league games and then lost in the playoffs against Derby too.

United currently don’t have the depth, and with their injury problems continuing to mount the Whites may be in trouble once fatigue sets in further towards the back end of the season. After all, Bielsa has used the fewest number of players of any team in the Championship – 19.

The last thing any Leeds fan wants is a repeat performance of what happened last term, but it seems as if the club aren’t taking the right precautionary measures to ensure that doesn’t happen.

It could just cost them their chance of making a reappearance in the promised land of the Premier League.

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.

Tottenham suffered a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, despite taking an early lead through Harry Kane’s header.

The result leaves Mauricio Pochettino’s men languishing in 11th place in the Premier League, after what has been an extremely disappointing start to the campaign – the north Londoners have won just three of the opening 10 games.

Against the European champions, the former Southampton boss could only watch on as Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah took the points away, although his use of the bench in the dying stages left a lot to be desired.

Snapshot

As aforesaid, Henderson and Salah scored second-half goals to win the game for the Reds.

The latter’s firm penalty after Serge Aurier had fouled Sadio Mane found the back of the net in the 75th minute, leaving Pochettino with 15 minutes to react.

A whole nine minutes went by before the Argentine decided to throw Lucas Moura into the fold in the 84th minute, before Pochettino also decided to introduce Giovani Lo Celso in the 88th minute.

Pointless use of his bench

What on earth was Pochettino expecting his two subs to do with such little time to make an impact?

Surely as soon as the Spurs boss saw Liverpool take the lead – a side who have now gone 45 games unbeaten at Anfield – he should immediately have thought that the Reds would manage the game accordingly and grind the win out.

As a result, instant action should have been taken after Salah’s goal – Lo Celso and Lucas should’ve already been ready to enter proceedings before the Egyptian had even finished celebrating.

It’s not like it would’ve been tough to chose a player to depart the pitch – Dele Alli failed to record a single shot, key pass or dribble, while Christian Eriksen had just one shot and that was all.

Pochettino delivered a moment of madness by giving his substitutes such little time to trouble a solid backline.

He uploaded an image of him with the match ball while holding three fingers up, and he captioned the post ‘First ever hat-trick’.

The 24-year-old didn’t state that he was buzzing or that he was over the moon, his post was straight to the point and didn’t have much emotion attached to it – maybe he’s just becoming such a goalscoring machine he’s just used to it now?

With all due respect, San Marino aren’t the best of opposition, so perhaps that’s why McGinn’s post after netting three times was so subdued.

England beat Bulgaria 6-0 on Monday evening, but despite the great result for the Three Lions you’d be hard pushed to find a happy face after the match.There were some disgusting scenes in Sofia during the game, as a number of England players were racially abused by the home fans.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

To make matters worse, the Bulgarian manager claimed that he didn’t hear any of the abuse from the stands, despite the fact that it was so loud and clear even ITV’s pundits were left visibly stunned.

Luckily, the victims of the abuse weren’t willing to let this lie, and Trent Alexander-Arnold took to Twitter to fire back at the opposition manager.

The right-back’s tweet perfectly encapsulates how everyone felt after hearing Krasimir Balakov’s comments.

The fact that he has come out and said that he didn’t hear any of the chanting is ridiculous, and these sorts of issue won’t be solved until high-profile figures such as managers begin holding the fans to account, rather than sweeping it under the rug.

Fortunately, there are others who are more willing to punish those responsible, as the country’s Prime Minister has called for the head of their FA to resign.

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…

Paul Merson has launched into a passionate rant insisting that nobody was surprised by Arsenal’s defeat to Sheffield United, per Sky Sports.

What’s he said?

The Gunners fell to a disappointing loss at Bramall Lane, as Lys Mousset’s goal capped a fine result for Chris Wilder’s men.

Merson, though, was unsurprised and has passionately called for the club to change their ways, making a particular point that he cannot imagine any player “going ballistic” in a bid to change their fortunes.

He said: “It’s accepted. Nobody is going to work the next morning and saying: ‘Oh my God, did you see Arsenal getting beat by Sheffield United?’ Those days are gone. It’s accepted through the club, the fans, the manager, everyone.

“Sheffield United played as much football as Arsenal. They didn’t kick them off the pitch.

“What has improved? Really, what has improved? Not a lot, at all.”

He added: “Even at the end, with four minutes to go, I’m thinking: ‘Do they know how long is left?’ I’m sure there’s an electric clock at Sheffield United, there was when I played there! ‘Is there going to be a bit of urgency?’

“It was rolled along the back, back to the goalkeeper, and then back again. I thought there were 20 minutes to go!

“Overall, it was poor. This was a very difficult game, but there are ways to lose football matches, and this wasn’t it. I didn’t see the urgency, and I can’t imagine anyone in that dressing room going ballistic. It’s just accepted: ‘Who have we got next week?’ It drives me up the wall. It’s so frustrating.”

Spot on

Merson has nailed it.

He might be something of a figure of fun because of his performances on Soccer Saturday, where he all too regularly mispronounces names and comes out with the odd left-field opinion.

But here, when talking about his club, it becomes patently obvious that he cares deeply about Arsenal.

And he was forced to sit and watch as 90 minutes slipped by at Bramall Lane, along with three points.

Unai Emery is in his second season at the club and, yet, the same old failings are rearing their ugly heads: the lack of desire, the lack of energy, the lack of passion.

Of course, simply adding a few players who would shout and scream in the dressing room isn’t going to improve things overnight.

But one has to believe that there is a need to have more leaders in that squad than it currently has.

As Merson says, very few people will have been surprised by Monday’s result.

That is perhaps the Gunners’ major failing.

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Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Arsenal striker John Hartson has delivered his verdict on why Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane might not have been at his best at the beginning of the 2019/20 season.

While the England captain scored twice on the opening day against Aston Villa and once against the Gunners, he drew blanks in the home matches against Newcastle United and then Crystal Palace on Saturday, and also missed a penalty while playing for his country against Kosovo.

Sky Sports did a feature only last week saying Spurs were pressing less than any other Premier League team – unusual for a Mauricio Pochettino side – and that lack of intensity starts from the front.

When asked whether he thought Kane looks sluggish this term, Hartson exclusively told FFC:

“Let’s not forget his injury at the back end of last season. I’m not sure whether he’s fully, fully, fully confident in himself in terms of his ankle.

“That could be affecting him a little bit, but he’s still a world-class player. World-class players bounce back and they prove people like me and you wrong.”

The Welshman makes a good point.

Perhaps Kane has simply realised that because of the multiple ankle issues he has suffered in the past, which have seen him miss 33 matches in the last three years according to his injury history on Transfermarkt, his role in this Tottenham team now has changed.

Maybe he simply can’t afford to chase into the channels and harry defenders as he might have done in the past, so as not to risk a recurrence of that injury.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

In that respect the onus will be on the likes of Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela to step up instead, leaving the England skipper to do what he is world-class at – sticking the ball in the back of the net.

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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… 

It’s likely that when Helder Costa walked through the doors of Elland Road in the summer eyebrows would have been raised.

His loan switch can become permanent for a total of £15m next summer, a considerable fee if you bear in mind this is the Championship we’re talking about.

Finding himself involved in 29 goals in just two seasons in the second tier of English football for Wolves, this was an impressive move from the Whites, but their reluctance to so far start him in the league is a puzzling decision.

A host of Leeds fans were calling for his inclusion after beating Barnsley last week while the same was said after their defeat versus Swansea.

Yet, are the worries entirely vindicated? Arguably not.

On the chalkboard

Costa hasn’t been afforded a starting berth in the league yet but has looked impressive in spells.

He’s assisted Eddie Nketiah for multiple strikes already whilst his willing running, performing one dribble a game despite a lack of minutes, shows what he’s capable of.

Comments made by Angus Kinnear this week on the Talking Shutt Podcast gives some insight into the plans they have for the Portuguese but also what he can bring to the side.

“Helder has the potential to be one of the best players in the division. He’s a player we believe has a Premier League future as well,” Kinnear said.

With that in mind, there is a clear long-term plan in place for Costa, one that doesn’t purely revolve around one season and therefore, a degree of patience needs to be considered with his selection and concerns should be dropped.

Kinnear also noted: “He’s the type of player who perhaps in those games where we’re struggling to make the breakthrough, even though we’ve got all of the possession, he’s the type of player who can make that breakthrough.”

This is one of the biggest reasons why Marcelo Bielsa has perhaps got things right so far. He has been having a devastating impact from the bench and for the time being, that is what Leeds have been utilising to their advantage.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Nketiah has scored twice in the Championship when used as a substitute while Costa has an assist and also won the free-kick Leeds scored from at Oakwell when he came on.

There have been a variety of games where Leeds have struggled, particularly against Brentford when they didn’t score until the final ten minutes, but the fresh legs of the Wolves loanee have allowed them to get on the front foot when the opposition is tired.

It may be that utilising him when the game is more open and stretched is the best way forward.

After all, as Kinnear states, Costa can be the man to make a breakthrough when it hasn’t previously been possible. He has a better chance of doing this in the dying embers.

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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…

The European transfer window closed at the beginning of September, and it was quickly apparent just how much competition for places there will be in Tottenham’s midfield these next few months.

Not counting the defence or the centre-forward position held by Harry Kane, Mauricio Pochettino has to pick his remaining options from Son Heung-Min, Lucas Moura, Ryan Sessegnon, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso, Moussa Sissoko, Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks, Eric Dier, Oliver Skipp and even Victor Wanyama.

Alli was once guaranteed a spot in the north London outfit’s XI – 34 Premier League starts in 2017/18 and 35 in 2016/17 is proof of that – but it could be a very different story now.

Son and Eriksen – the latter of whom Pochettino hinted on Thursday deserves to be playing – look to be favoured options, while you would imagine that summer additions Ndombele and Lo Celso could be regulars seeing as the former is Spurs’ club-record signing and they have an option to buy the latter.

That still leaves Lamela – who has started all four of their Premier League matches in 2019/20 – and Sissoko and Winks, who have also been in the XI for every top flight match this term and who chalked up 85 appearances between them during the previous campaign.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

So where does all that leave Alli?

Well, the England international only made his return from a hamstring injury against Arsenal before the international break, where he had to settle for a place on the substitutes’ bench followed by a 30-minute cameo at the Emirates.

Another reason the 23-year-old could be in danger of being the odd man out is the fact he simply has failed to replicate the brilliant form he showed in 2016/17 with 22 goals and 13 assists, and 2017/18 when he scored 14 goals and provided a further 17 assists.

Seven goals and eight assists last term wasn’t disastrous, but it was nowhere near the previous standards the £81m-rated star had set for himself.

Now he faces a serious battle for a spot in the XI, and unless he really steps things up he could be the surprise odd one out with so many defensive and attack-minded options available to Pochettino.

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Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has joined AS Roma on a season-long loan, as reported by BBC Sport.

What’s the story?

The Armenia international has not had the best start to the season, being included in the first XI on just one occasion at the Emirates Stadium, and as such, the former Manchester United attacking midfielder has joined the Giallorossi for the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign.

The deal reportedly includes a clause to buy should he make 25 appearances, meaning that some good performances from the 30-year-old in Serie A may see Roma sign him on a permanent basis.

“It feels like a loss” – that was the view of a Spurs fan after this weekend’s North London Derby in the video below…

Aubameyang to be forced out wide more frequently

From a performance point of view, Mkhitaryan’s departure is not a surprise. He has not hit the heights many would have wanted, scoring just nine goals in 59 appearances for the Gunners.

However, in regards to Emery’s squad, it leaves Arsenal short in attack. The former Sevilla boss likes to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation with two wide men. Nicolas Pepe and Reiss Nelson are the only two “senior” specialist wing options available but the latter has not started the campaign in the best of form.

But the ramifications for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be huge, then. The Gabon international has already played wide in two of the four Premier League games this campaign, and will most likely need to carry on in that role to enable the preferred 4-2-3-1 line up while accommodating Alexandre Lacazette up top.

The former Borussia Dortmund man is no slouch out wide, scoring 69 goals in 144 games, but his best position is up front and that’s where he will no doubt want to play.

The departure of Mkhitaryan limits Emery’s options though and only further ties his hands. Not only is he already selecting Aubameyang on the left to get Lacazette in the team, but he’s now glaringly short of realistic alternatives should he want to move last season’s joint Premier League Golden Boot winner back to the tip of attack.

With that in mind, the wing could well end up being Aubameyang’s default position this season, and there isn’t a great deal Emery can do about it.

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