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Liverpool fans are stunned that Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was not handed a red card after accidentally kicking Crystal Palace midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate in the face at Selhurst Park.

Of course, Reds star Sadio Mane was sent off during a game against City back in 2017, after a clash with goalkeeper Ederson.

Chasing a loose ball, the Senegal international collided with the Brazilian, with his boot catching the stopper in the head.

Ederson was stretchered off and Mane was shown a straight red card.

On Saturday, however, De Bruyne attempted to control a bouncing ball and caught Kouyate in the face in a similar (though slightly less brutal) manner.

He was not shown a card, however, to the chagrin of Liverpool supporters, with City going on to win the game 2-0.

One insists that Mane is the only player to be punished for such a challenge, and others are convinced that De Bruyne should have been given his marching orders as well.

Take a look at the best of the reaction below!

Zinedine Zidane and his players had a pretty decent weekend overall.

Real Madrid welcomed Granada to the Santiago Bernabeu and managed to secure all three points after a 4-2 win.

Los Blancos had a comfortable lead throughout most of the game – they led 3-0 thanks to goals from Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard and Luka Modric – but a little lapse in concentration gave their guests a chance to claw their way back into the clash.

Luckily for the home team, a late goal from James Rodriguez sealed the deal and ensured they would stay top of the table going into the international break.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Of course, there were players in white that really impressed but many of Real Madrid fans seem to be gushing over James in particular.

The 76-time capped Colombia international netted his first goal of the season for Los Blancos and he seems to be a fan favourite at the Santiago Bernabeu.

You can see some of those replies down in the collection of tweets below:

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…

Glen Johnson believes Roy Hodgson failed as manager of Liverpool because he wasn’t ready to manage such a big club.

What did he say?

The former Red spent six years on Anfield playing under the likes of Rafa Benitez, Kenny Dalglish, Brendan Rodgers and Hodgson, so is well-placed to judge what it takes to succeed at the club.

All four managers had different approaches and although the latter has had a lot of success at various clubs and in different countries, Johnson believes he lacked the mentality necessary to achieve with Liverpool.

Watch a Liverpool fan discover the internet and get a nasty surprise in the video below…

Speaking to The Anfield Wrap, via The Mirror, he said: “Well Roy, no disrespect, had come from smaller clubs and I don’t think he was ready to manage Liverpool.

“We’d be worried about playing a smaller team at Anfield. No disrespect to the smaller teams but you have to grab the bull by the horns and just go and put them to bed, and he just didn’t have that sort of mentality, it was all a bit straight line and defensive.”

That goes some way to explaining why the former England manager wasn’t the right fit. Along with poor signings such as Milan Jovanovic and Paul Konchesky – who each made just 18 appearances for the club – he won just 13 out of 31 games.

Negative mindset

Hodgson’s most notable success in recent years has been at Fulham and West Brom, whilst he has done a very respectable job at Crystal Palace after taking over in difficult circumstances.

However, at both England and the Reds it is fair to say he was a disaster because he didn’t understand the ethos of Liverpool in terms of what was expected from the team.

Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Results failed, in part, due to his negative set-up and defensive style, with his side scoring 41 goals under his tenure. Many fans were also frustrated at an attitude which saw the Reds “praying for draws” against the likes of Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton.

Liverpool fans’ concerns at the time were justifiable, having seen their team play negatively with one striker in several games, as well as enduring a seven-game winless streak which also included a League Cup defeat at home to Northampton.

He also failed to get the best out of Fernando Torres, with the Spaniard scoring only six goals in 22 games, which suggests that Johnson is right in his assessment that Liverpool too often failed to assert themselves as a dominant threat.

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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.

Manchester United recorded a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

There was huge pressure on the Red Devils after a tough start to the 2019-20 campaign, but Marcus Rashford’s early penalty secured all three points.

Snapshot

United entered Saturday’s clash with the Foxes having recorded just one win in their four league matches at the start of the season.

Rashford’s early penalty gave the home side the advantage, but it was not all plain sailing as Leicester put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side under huge pressure.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

David de Gea had to make two big saves to keep out James Maddison and Ben Chilwell in the first half, with the hosts slightly fortunate to go into the interval with the lead.

It was also a difficult second half with Leicester enjoying plenty of the ball as they looked to level the scores at the Theatre of Dreams.

Solskjaer made a change in the 67th minute, though, introducing Fred for his first minutes of the campaign. And the Brazilian went on to play an important role for his team as the Red Devils came under pressure.

Off the bench

Fred’s contribution was telling.

The Brazil midfielder replaced Nemanja Matic, who had only boasted a 68% pass success rate during his time on the field.

Fred, however, ended with passing statistics of 86%, whilst he also made three clearances, one interception and one tackle during his 23 minutes on the field.

At the time, it appeared that the change had not altered too much. Fred helped United keep the ball during a period of the match where they needed it most, though, and his energy was also imperative as Matic’s legs had tired.

Solskjaer’s failure to use Fred this season has been a talking point, but the former Shakhtar Donetsk ace proved on Saturday that he can certainly play an important role, particularly with the team needing to improve their use of the ball in the middle.

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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…

Charlton’s excellent start to the campaign has hit the rocks recently, unsurprisingly after Lyle Taylor picked up an injury while on international duty.

The Addicks had won four and drawn two of their opening six Championship games, but after Taylor got injured while with Montserrat, the south Londoners have lost their two games without the 29-year-old.

Taylor looks set to be out for around two months, so let’s look at two alternatives Lee Bowyer could deploy in place of the league’s joint-top scorer…

Tomer Hemed

The Israel international – signed after leaving Brighton in the summer – has started both games against Birmingham and Wigan since Taylor’s injury, but has failed to impress as of yet.

Hemed – who has an impressive 17 goals in 38 caps for his country – had no shots on target across both of those matches against the Latics and the Midlands-based side, which ended with the Addicks failing to score in either game.

The 32-year-old has nowhere near the kind of pace Taylor has, and his predatory instincts are yet to rear their head at The Valley.

Improvement is needed from the former QPR striker while the Montserrat international remains out.

Chuks Aneke

Having played the entirety of last season as a centre-forward for MK Dons, scoring 17 goals in League Two, you would assume that Aneke was signed to play a similar position.

However, Bowyer recently said that he was yet to be impressed with the former Arsenal man in a centre-forward role, and mentioned that he sees the 26-year-old as more of a No.10 in an attacking midfield position based on his impressive performances in that area.

While Taylor is out, however, it’s no good playing Aneke as a No.10 if Hemed continues to misfire in attack, so as things stand, Bowyer’s two alternatives to his injured talisman really don’t look capable of covering for Taylor adequately.

[ad_pod ]Crystal Palace failed to hold onto their half-time lead on Wednesday night as Southampton came back via James Ward-Prowse – despite the Eagles’ numerous opportunities in front of goal, their finishing was once again lacklustre and they paid the price.Wilfried Zaha was a menace throughout and fired his side in front in the first half, but lost his head late on and was sent off for sarcastically applauding the referee after being booked – a gesture for which he will be reprimanded by the FA.Despite the big striker having scored against Spurs in the FA Cup last weekend, Roy Hodgson elected not to start Connor Wickham and instead gave the nod to Jordan Ayew – the Ghanaian worked hard but never looked too threatening, as has been the theme throughout the season.The Saints equalised with 13 minutes of regulation time remaining, at which point Hodgson may have felt it necessary to bring on a fresh pair of legs up front – instead, the former England boss stuck with Ayew until the final whistle and one can’t help but feel that, had Wickham or Christian Benteke been on the field, the Croydon outfit could have secured all three points.Negative substitutions and tactics have been a point of controversy for Palace this season and this surely isn’t the first time the Selhurst Park faithful felt that Hodgson’s game management was poor.The 71-year-old’s post-match comments did nothing but make it worse – here’s how the Palace fans reacted on Twitter…

It really is raining injuries over in the Spanish capital at the moment.

Saying that Real Madrid were quite unlucky with various fitness problems in the last couple of weeks would be an understatement. Currently, there are six players sidelined and unavailable to Zinedine Zidane.

But there were only five until recently when it was officially confirmed that Luka Modric has been diagnosed with a muscle injury to the adductor in his right leg as Los Blancos’ streak of bad luck looks to have continued.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And the fans have just about had enough of it, as it seems from their latest social media activity.

Upon learning about the latest injury to their Croatian midfielder, they simply lost it and couldn’t believe this was happening all over again.

They quickly took to Twitter to express their disappointment, anger and sadness as some claimed they were “totally done” and wanted the season restarted.

You can see some of their replies down in the collection of tweets below.

Check them out…

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Speaking live on Sky Sports, as shared by via skysports.com, reporter Dharmesh Sheth has dropped yet another West Ham United transfer update involving Flamengo striker Gabriel Barbosa.

The Lowdown: West Ham hold talks…

As revealed by Sky, the Irons have entered discussions to sign Barbosa this month as they aim to put an end to manager David Moyes’ year-long search for a striker.

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The Brazil international has been in scintillating form for this current club, bagging 29 goals in 2021 alone, which has attracted interest from West Ham, Moyes and recruitment chief Rob Newman.

Reports in recent days had died down but now, speaking live on the Transfer Show, Sheth has made a promising claim with a possible West Ham move still on.

The Latest: Sheth drops big update…

Sheth stated to the broadcast giant that the Hammers’ offer to sign Barbosa is ‘still on the table’ with the player himself now eager to make a Premier League switch.

“West Ham’s offer is still on the table, it has not been withdrawn, the interest does remain,” he explained on Sky.

“A reminder of what that proposal was from West Ham, 18-month loan plus a 30 million euro option to buy.

“Flamengo do not want to sell or loan Gabriel Barbosa in this transfer window, but, I’m also told that ‘Gabigol’ has a meeting with his agent and Flamengo officials tomorrow, in which he will make it clear to them that he wants to make a move to England.”

The Verdict: Get it done?

As news emerges of Barbosa potentially forcing his club’s hand, this could boost West Ham in their hunt for the 25-year-old and it’s safe to say he could be an asset for Moyes.

The South American’s prolific goalscoring record highlight a really instinctive centre-forward target and, if Moyes is to guide West Ham to Champions League qualification, it certainly won’t hurt to have him in their squad as an alternative to Michail Antonio.

It will be interesting to see how this develops and whether Flamengo will consider a loan/buy option given Barbosa’s stance on leaving Brazil.

In other news: West Ham source: Newman makes move to sign ‘devastating’ forward after price plummets by £32m, find out more here.

Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is attracting increasing interest ahead of the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), who claimed that Jose Mourinho is desperate to bring the 26-year-old to AS Roma this summer. The former Tottenham manager is said to be more than willing to work with the Denmark international once again at the Stadio Olimpico.

However, the report added that, because of Antonio Conte’s fondness for the midfielder, Spurs would demand a figure in the region of €40m (£33.5m) in order to part with the former Southampton colossus at the end of the current campaign.

Paratici must avoid Hojbjerg disaster

Considering just how important a part of Conte’s side Hojbjerg has become since the Italian’s arrival in north London last November, it is an easy argument to make that Fabio Paratici sanctioning the £33.5m sale of the 26-year-old this summer would be something of a disaster by Tottenham’s sporting director.

Indeed, in the 19 Premier League fixtures that the 52-year-old has overseen at Spurs, Hojbjerg has featured in all but two, He was unavailable for the 2-2 draw with Liverpool in December and left on the bench in the 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in February.

Furthermore, over his 27 league outings in total this term, the £58.5m-rated destroyer has been one of Tottenham’s standout performers. He has scored two goals, registered two assists and created three big chances for his team-mates, averaging 1.3 interceptions and 2.3 tackles and winning 5.2 duels per game.

These returns have seen the £100k-per-week “monster” – in the words of Morten Bisgaard – average an impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.17, ranking him as Conte’s fourth-best player in the English top flight in 2021/22.

As such, it is clear to see that selling a player whose “simplicity is genius” according to Mourinho, particularly for an amount roughly £25m less than his current valuation, would be a catastrophic call for Paratici to make this summer, not to mention one which would surely leave Conte furious.

AND in other news: Paratici can land Spurs the next Vieira in “superb” 18 y/o with “world-class potential”

West Ham must make a ruthless call on Andriy Yarmolenko in this January transfer window amid a recent update on his future…

What’s the story?

According to Claret and Hugh, the Hammers have made the Ukrainian winger available for a move away, but no club has come in for him just yet.

They said: “West Ham insiders are surprised they have not yet seen a single inquiry come in for Andriy Yarmolenko. With his contract running out in June the Irons were pretty well convinced that the Ukrainian international would attract several clubs.”

The report added: “The Hammers have made it clear among agents that Yarmo can leave for as little as £2 million with the main objective of getting him off the wage bill for the rest of the season but so far no club has bitten.”

Needs to be sold

Since making the move to West Ham, it’s fair to say things haven’t turned out the way Yarmolenko would have wanted, playing just 71 times for the club and scoring only 11 goals. This season has seen him play 17 times across all competitions for the first team but score just one goal, so it’s no surprise that the Hammers are looking to get rid of him.

The £100k-a-week earner was even touted with an exit by Noel Whelan, who suggested that the Hammers would do well to get him off the wage books.

He said: “I thought he was excellent for Ukraine at the Euros but he’s been very inconsistent for West Ham. When you’re looking to get the wages down it’s probably the right thing to do. Clubs have been hit financially with the fans not being there.

“Some players have got to go and if they feel he is one of them then that will give them some breathing space. They’ve still got fantastic wingers there, no doubt about it. This is an opportunity to get their highest earner off the wage bill. It makes certain sense.”

With no clubs coming in for him, though, perhaps West Ham must make the decisive and bold move of just cancelling his contract rather than waiting to see if somebody else takes him off their hands for an actual fee.

The man who Declan Rice once dubbed “special” must simply never play for the Hammers again.

Meanwhile, West Ham are interested in this South American centre-back…