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A selection of Newcastle United fans have been slamming Allan Saint-Maximin on social media after the Chronicle’s Mark Douglas claimed the winger could be the man to inspire a greater offence at St. James’ Park.Saint-Maximin is yet to score or register an assist in any of his six Premier League outings for Newcastle, and has not seen out a full game thus far.Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers saw the 5 ft 6 forward come close to marking his first full appearance of the term, but was withdrawn in the closing stages for Christian Atsu.The Wolves encounter also saw Saint-Maximin register one key ball while competing 77.8% of his 18 passes, as well as being successful with seven of his 11 attempted dribbles.Take a trip down memory lane to a time when Newcastle were giants on the European stage in the video below…Dribbles have been one area where the summer signing from OGC Nice has thrived, though, with Douglas referring to one stat claiming the Frenchman leads the way across Europe’s top five leagues for average number of successful runs per 90 minutes this season.However, WhoScored data suggests Saint-Maximin’s average of 5.7 per 90 is less than Lionel Messi, Alphonso Davies, Sada Thioub and Benjamin Goller have averaged of players to have featured more than four times.Toon fans are also seemingly hesitant to praise Saint-Maximin too much, as the £16.5million signing often fails to do anything once he advances into a forward position.The winger has played seven key balls for Newcastle this term as well as taking eight shots, only two of which have been on target.Despite that, Douglas feels Saint-Maximin will be the man who can give Newcastle an improved offence going forward, with Steve Bruce’s men currently boasting six goals from 10 Premier League games.Here are some of the messages shared in response to Douglas’ claim…

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 to Sky Sports, David de Gea has admitted Manchester United’s current struggles are the worst it has ever been in his time at the club.

What did he say?

The Red Devils have endured a miserable start to the current campaign, finding themselves in twelfth place with just nine points from their opening eight Premier League games.

Following their 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday afternoon, De Gea delivered a withering assessment of just where United stand at the moment.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

When asked what is going wrong at the club, the Spaniard said: “Everything. I think a lot of things need to improve. They were the better team today. I don’t know what to say, really. Just keep trying, keep fighting, keep improving every day. It’s a hard moment for us, a difficult moment, but we are United and we need to keep fighting.

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“Probably the worst time, most difficult time, since I’ve been here. I don’t know. I don’t know what is happening. Come on, we cannot score even one goal in two games. Sorry to the fans. We will keep fighting for sure, we will come back, but at the moment we are in a difficult situation. It’s a hard moment for us. The most difficult time since I’ve been here. I don’t know why or what is happening.”

Eye-opener

Hearing De Gea come out with such a powerful statement on United’s woes really puts into perspective how quickly the club have fallen in recent times. The Spain international was there for the Premier League title triumph back in 2013, and is in a better position than most, to really see the painful differences that exists.

It’s fair to say the goalkeeper didn’t mince his words when it came to what he felt is going wrong at Old Trafford. But his “we cannot score even one goal in two games” line really hit home. The 28-year-old has to watch on as the rest of his teammates fluff their lines, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must heed the words of one of his main stars. More emphasis on attacking football, and an absolute necessity to sort out their striker problems in January.

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!

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Lots of QPR fans have taken to Twitter to react after it was announced that Ilias Chair had signed a new three-year contract at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

The 21-year-old joined the R’s back in 2017 following a successful trial, and he has emerged as a key player under Mark Warburton this season, making a total of eight appearances in all competitions – the midfielder has one goal and two assists in total this term.

The Morocco Under-23 international made 16 appearances while out on loan with Stevenage last season, where he scored six goals and recorded six assists before managing to break into Warburton’s starting XI in the current campaign.

One fan below said that he was “dancing around the office” upon hearing the news of Chair’s contract extension, while another called for fellow youngsters Ryan Manning, Eberechi Eze, Grant Hall and Bright Osayi-Samuel to also have their deals renewed.

Let’s take a look at some more of the Twitter reaction…

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Newcastle may have been thrashed 5-0 by Leicester on Sunday afternoon, but that hasn’t stopped the Manchester United doomsdayers from tipping the Red Devils to lose to them this coming weekend.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have hardly set the world alight this season, and have seen their troubles compounded by injuries to key players in important positions.

Wherever things could go wrong, they have gone wrong. United’s decision to let go of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez certainly raised the ire of the Old Trafford faithful, and subsequent injuries to the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have just made things worse.

After their clash against Arsenal on Monday night, the Red Devils take on Steve Bruce’s Newcastle – a side languishing in 19th in the Premier League table.

Despite the Magpies’ lowly position however, United fans took to Twitter to reveal they know a defeat to the Tyneside club is going to be inevitable now.

Some supporters of the Manchester side even suggested Bruce’s men would turn into “prime Barcelona” or “prime Milan” and completely destroy them.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

Everton’s social media are having a tough time of it at the moment.

In fairness, it is never easy to operate an account when the team in question is performing poorly, which is the case for Everton.

Indeed, the Toffees have lost five of their last six matches in all competitions, including their last three in the Premier League.

Marco Silva should surely be getting a lot more out of the group of players.

However, it seems to be more of a collective issue.

Next up for the Merseyside outfit is a trip to Cardiff City on February 26 and a defeat in that game would lead to serious questions being asked.

Everton’s Twitter account attempted to raise the spirits of the fans with a message about Lucas Digne on Monday, but it did not go down very well.

Indeed, not too many of the supporters were pleased with the amount of smiling faces that they saw on the training ground due to the team’s current form.

A selection of the reaction can be seen below:

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Leeds have been given some good news on the injury front following Marcelo Bielsa’s pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash with Barnsley.

The Argentine revealed that Tyler Roberts was now back in contention whilst Luke Ayling was healthy.

Ayling has been out after having to undergo ankle surgery whilst Roberts had fluid drained from his knee which caused him to miss the opening month of the season.

Certain Leeds fans were understandably delighted with the news as one hailed it as brilliant. A further individual stated that Roberts was the Whites’ most underrated player.

Another fan explained how they’d been looking forward to seeing the 20-year-old play again. One said he could challenge Mateusz Klich for a place.

Roberts contributed to eight goals in the Championship last season by way of finding the net himself and laying on strikes for his teammates.

Adam Forshaw has since stepped into his role alongside Klich whilst Stuart Dallas has just recently signed a new deal after stepping up at right-back in place of Ayling.

Here’s the best of the reaction from various sources on Twitter.

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Arsenal have been offered a couple of late solutions to their nightmare search for a new striker…

What’s the word?

According to CBS Sports reporter James Benge, who delivered a fresh update on the Gunners’ pressing situation ahead of the January transfer window deadline at 11pm.

‘The Gunners have also been offered several players on loan this month, including Real Madrid’s Luka Jovic and Mehdi Taremi of Porto, and are working to upgrade Arteta’s strikeforce before the transfer window closes Monday night,’ he wrote.

Late business inbound?

It appears as if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is about to stay at the club after a loan move to Barcelona fell through but his future at the club is by no means certain after he was stripped of the captaincy in early December.

Meanwhile, Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are out of contract in the summer, so manager Mikel Arteta could be really light on options heading into next season.

You’d have to call into question the attitudes of all three players if they feel as if they have no future in north London, too, so the Spanish head coach desperately needs additions before tonight’s 11pm deadline.

Therefore. it’s encouraging to learn that they have been offered potential solutions, especially after missing out on several key targets.

For instance, Dusan Vlavhovic opted for Juventus instead, whilst Jonathan David isn’t going anywhere until the summer. Meanwhile, a late move for Raul de Tomas appears to be way out of stretch financially.

Whether Jovic or Taremi are the answer remains to be seen but further options to this squad are definitely needed. If Aubameyang departed, then that would have been their sixth exit of the window, all without a single signing.

That’s a troubling prospect but this latest update gives some hope to the Emirates Stadium faithful.

AND in other news, David Ornstein has bad news for Arsenal fans on deadline day…

A huge Newcastle United claim has been dropped regarding Fabian Schar’s future at St James’ Park…

What’s the talk?

According to i News reporter Mark Douglas, the centre-back is eager to put pen to paper on a contract extension with the club.

The report claimed that there have been positive talks between the two parties in the midst of interest from clubs in Serie A. It is said that the Swiss defender’s wages will not be an issue for PIF as they attempt to prevent him from leaving for nothing at the end of his current deal in the summer.

Elation

This news will surely leave Eddie Howe elated, as keeping Schar heading into the 2022/23 campaign will be a major boost to his Newcastle squad.

The Switzerland international is now in his fourth season for the Magpies and is currently a regular starter alongside Dan Burn at the back. Schar has started 10 league games in 2022 and only lost two of them, scoring one goal and setting up another whilst helping his side to record three clean sheets, which shows the impressive form he is enjoying at the moment.

In the 2018/19 campaign, he averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.14 as he scored four goals in 24 top-flight appearances. The centre-back averaged a whopping 5.3 tackles and interceptions per game in that campaign as he showcased his defensive prowess for the Toon.

He is a proven Premier League performer who also has the ability in possession to be a part of a progressive system moving forward. As per FBRef, he ranks in the 91st percentile for attacking touches, 81st for dribbles completed, 97th for assists and 82nd for shot-creating actions amongst centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues over the last 365 days.

This shows that he has the quality in possession to do more than just clear danger and worry about the next attack to defend. For example, Jamaal Lascelles ranks in the 12th percentile for dribbling, 30th for assists and 12th for shot-creating actions, as per FBRef, suggesting that he is not as influential in possession in comparison to Schar.

Therefore, Howe will be buzzing to retain the 30-year-old, and this news suggests that the defender will be staying at St James’ Park beyond the end of the current season. The ex-Bournemouth coach will surely be eager to lean on him again at the heart of his defence next term, both for his out-and-out defending and his use of the ball to build attacks for Newcastle.

AND in other news, NUFC eye £49.5m-rated “phenomenon” who’s a “work of art”, he’d ignite St James’ Park…

Arsenal are lining up a shock move for Youri Tielemans this month, according to reports…

What’s the word?

Goal journalist Charles Watts delivered an exciting update to supporters on Twitter this week, claiming that the Gunners’ are ramping up their plans to sign a new midfielder before deadline day.

“Arsenal and their search for a midfielder:

– Contact made over Arthur

– All sides open to a loan

– Tielemans a long-term target

– Talks have taken place with his agent at London Colney,” he tweeted alongside an accompanying article.

The reliable reporter went on to explain how the north London giants have already held talks with the 24-year-old’s agents about a potential switch from league rivals Leicester City.

Outstanding addition

What an incredible signing this would be for Arsenal and as surprising as it would be, it has to be realistic considering their form under Mikel Arteta this campaign.

On the cusp of the top four, the Gunners are some ten points clear of the Foxes, who finished above them last season. The prospect of offering the Belgian dynamo Champions League football is becoming increasingly possible each game.

The need for a new midfielder is paramount to those chances, so landing Tielemans could come hand-in-hand.

Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny have gone to the Africa Cup of Nations and are unavailable for selection for the rest of the month, whilst Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been shipped to AS Roma on loan.

Meanwhile, Arteta is thought to be missing the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool, so there’s somewhat of a big engine room crisis going on at London Colney at the minute.

After securing the FA Cup last season, Tielemans won Leicester’s ‘ Player of the Year’ award, by both the fans and his peers.

He is capable of providing goals from midfield, having bagged five times this season but he also offers attributes in the defensive third too. He has averaged 1.9 tackles and 1.5 clearances per game, via WhoScored.

On the above evidence, Arsenal fans will surely be absolutely buzzing by this transfer bombshell.

AND in other news, David Ornstein drops huge transfer update on the Gunners’ striker search…