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It’s fair to say Jacob Murphy’s loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday hasn’t taken off as well as he would have liked.

The Newcastle man joined the Owls on a year-long spell earlier in the summer, and there must have been hope that he could rediscover the kind of form that convinced his parent side to shell out £12m to sign him from Norwich City.

Instead, the 24-year-old has endured a disappointing time at Hillsborough, scoring just the once in 11 appearances across all competitions for Garry Monk’s side.

Having been brought on as a late substitute when the Owls were leading Cardiff 1-0 on Friday night, Murphy delivered a virtually anonymous showing. As per Sofascore, the former Norwich man made just one accurate pass in 11 minutes of action, attempted no dribbles, and lost possession six times.

After seeing his horror cameo, Wednesday fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on their loan signing.

Many supporters of the side couldn’t believe the winger’s performance, with one fan in particular calling for someone to put him on the next train back to Newcastle.

Check out some of the reaction of Wednesday fans below:

France Football have released the top 30 players who are in contention to win the coveted Ballon d’Or award this year.

And Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid’s 19-year-old wonderkid, has been nominated for the Kopa award, which is given to the best young player in the world.

The young Brazilian will fight with some of the biggest young talents in world football for a chance to be crowned the best.

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But if their recent social media activity is anything to go by, many Real Madrid fans actually don’t think Vinicius deserves to win the award.

Shortly after Los Blancos shared his nomination, some of the Madridistas actually slammed the young talent, criticising him and even stating that his nomination doesn’t make much sense.

Prior to the clash with Galatasaray, he had made eight appearances in all competitions, scoring once.

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

Check them out…

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

Newcastle United do not have a top transfer target in mind to bring to St James’ Park in January, according to The Chronicle.

What’s the word?

The Magpies have had a tough start to the season and find themselves in the relegation zone after nine games, with just two wins and two draws to their name.

The club sent over £60m on new players this summer but have not fixed any issues which have linger

Lee Ryder of The Chronicle hosted a Q&A session and answered the elusive question – were the Magpies looking to bring anyone in during the January transfer window?

A Newcastle fan calls for Sean and Matt Longstaff’s Mum to give birth to a starting eleven’s worth of Longstaffs in the video below…

He said: “I don’t think there is any individual player who is regarded at the top of the list.

“United operate on the basis of putting aside three or four possibles in each position.

“You’d be amazed by the number of players that Steve Nickson and his team have watched since July.

“The media often get criticised for linking the club with lots of players but they are looking at more players than ever before in a bid to try to find the right ones.”

Terrible scattergun policy

This kind of approach to transfers is the reason why they find themselves hovering in and around the relegation zone.

Without any system in place or any players that have been shortlisted to bring in, Newcastle cannot expect to compete in the Premier League.

Watch Newcastle United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

This is clear when we look at some of the players that the North East club have brought in.

Emil Krafth is an example that had fans thinking he was way down manager Steve Bruce’s shortlist when he signed. Unfortunately, his performances prove it as he has averaged just 0.8 tackles and 0.2 crosses during the six Premier League appearances he has made so far.

Joelinton, the big summer signing, has not started in the way that supporters were expecting after his £40m move from Hoffenheim, scoring just one goal in nine Premier League games.

Even Ryder himself said that the club’s scouting system has watched many players since July but unbelievably do not have anyone on the shortlist.

The club are setting themselves up to fail and can only blame themselves if they are relegated once more.

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…

Leeds fans were a bit disheartened earlier this week as they reacted to Izzy Brown’s good start to life at Luton Town.

Indeed, the midfielder has created more assists than any other player in the Championship this term, and understandably, that revelation has annoyed a number of United supporters.

However, a closer look at things shows that supporters shouldn’t actually be hung up on Brown’s successes.

Maybe Marcelo Bielsa was right to not play him last season, and a look at his stats in the current campaign shows that he wouldn’t actually be that useful a player for the Whites.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

To begin with we have to acknowledge that Leeds don’t have a problem with chance creation.

They top the xG league table by quite some way, but it’s poor finishing that’s costing them, not the inability to carve out chances.

It’s hard to believe that Brown would offer much improvement on that front as Leeds have created 171 chances this term. In fact, Leeds have created more chances at this point than they had this time last year, despite the fact they dominated their rivals in terms of chance creation in 2018/19.

Find out what happened when a world-record-holding freestyler attempting skills with the worst pair of boots available on eBay in the video below…

We also have to look at what makes Bielsa’s team tick, and it’s quite obvious when you look at the stats.

Leeds dominate possession in almost every game they play as their average possession for this season in 59.6 per cent.

Of course, you need a high pass success rate to go alongside that, and Leeds’ is exceptional at 80.7%.

This may be one of the reasons Bielsa neglected Brown at times last term.

The Chelsea man’s pass success rate stands at just 72.9%, which is over 17% lower than Adam Forshaw and almost 10% lower than Mateusz Klich.

All in all, Brown wouldn’t add anything new to Leeds’ team.

They don’t need to create more chances – they need to finish them off, and his presence could have been a hindrance as he’s not accurate enough with the passes he makes to fit into the way the Argentine wants his team to play.

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

According to The Chronicle, Newcastle remain in a deadlock over contract discussions with Sean and Matty Longstaff.

What’s the word?

The duo have been one of the bright spots of a mixed season at St James’ Park this season, with the brothers establishing themselves at the heart of the Magpies midfield in recent weeks.

Older sibling Sean has been the subject of intense transfer speculation linking him with a move to Old Trafford, whilst Matty’s current deal with Newcastle expires at the end of the current season.

Now, The Chronicle claim Steve Bruce’s side are yet to make a breakthrough in negotiations with the pair in respect to extending their deals, and the Newcastle boss admitted in his pre-match press conference that they are working to get them done.

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He said: “It took Martin Dubravka the best part of three months. I keep saying conversations are ongoing – the two Longstaff brothers are there for everybody to see. That will keep on going.”

Priority

Make no mistake about it, more than anything else this season, Newcastle simply have to convince the Longstaff brothers to put pen to paper on new long-term contracts.

Anything else would be a major travesty. The pair have brought the heart and passion back to St James’ Park amidst difficult times, and losing them would just rip the soul out of the club.

Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…

Their iconic post-match comments after the victory against Manchester United earlier this season was a special moment. Speaking on Sky Sports, Gary Neville remarked just how significant it was.

“I said before the game that the life has been sucked out of this ground but that sort of moment today, that will give a spark to fifty thousand Newcastle fans that there is something there. That’s why they turn up because one of their own has gone out there today and grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.”

If they can get the duo to commit their futures to the club, the Magpies faithful know they can rally behind a couple of players who will give it their all no matter what and represent the local community. After all, they’ve come through the academy, and as Neville says, they’ve been a spark for the Toon Army.

As fans continue to understandably protest against Mike Ashley’s tyrannous regime, the Longstaff brothers are the key to restoring a sense of identity at St James’ Park.

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…

Nothing like a win to make everybody feel OK about themselves once again.

Although depending on who you ask, they were already feeling pretty good about themselves to begin with. At least that’s what Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall makes of the whole situation.

Having been brought crashing back down to earth with two defeats in two games, things finally got back on track with victory away to Luton Town last weekend.

What’s he said?

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Worrall said that things weren’t bad as they might seem because losses like them are part and parcel of playing in a division like the Championship and whether or not their momentum was affected by those setbacks:

“It was never off track. We’ve done really well. We were top of the league after nine games. There’s shock results all over the place. Results seem to be going our way.”

Try not to make it a habit

Whilst it’s true to say that freak results like these can come at any time, just look at Leeds United’s loss to Wigan Athletic at the back end of last campaign, that doesn’t mean that they should be brushed aside as if they’re something to expect and just natural in this division.

It’s about making sure that they either don’t happen at all, or at the very least making sure that you bounce back from them if and when they do happen. Much in the same way they bounced back from the defeat to Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend of the season.

So with one victory under their belts, it’s time to keep that momentum going into the international break. No better way to sign things off by going into things on a high and making sure you’re not on a down note through the break as you wait two weeks to ‘get things right’ again.

Whilst they might not have much of an effect right now, with Forest only three points off a top-two spot, it could end up costing them come the end of the season when they look back on the points they missed out on.

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…

If it wasn’t already strikingly obvious, Crystal Palace need attacking reinforcements and have done for some time.

So far this season, Roy Hodgson’s men are the second-lowest scorers in the Premier League with just ten goals scored in 12 games.

Their top scorer? Jordan Ayew with four goals – the Ghanaian netted just one league goal last season.

The Eagles’ other strikers include Connor Wickham, a man who seems permanently injured and scored no league goals last season. Alongside the former Sunderland man is Christian Benteke, a £27m flop who has scored just four times in his last 61 appearances across all competitions.

Wilfried Zaha is also yet to score this term, although all of the aforementioned is well-documented.

One thing that is not as well-documented, however, is this alarming statistic from the 2-0 loss to Chelsea last time out.

At Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, Palace failed to have a single shot in the first-half of a Premier League game for the first time since March 2014, in what is a sad indicator of just how seriously the Eagles are struggling in front of goal.

“Then there was the team’s customary lack of firepower. The visitors failed to muster a single shot in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time since March 2014. Kepa Arrizabalaga would only be called upon once to make a sharp save, and that was from James McCarthy four minutes from time.”

That particular game was over five years ago – it is a common occurrence for the south Londoners to barely threaten their opponents’ goalmouth, but it is especially rare to see them be so timid that they don’t even register a shot in the first 45 minutes.

Ayew looked lost and isolated against Chelsea – he didn’t have a shot or record a key pass. Zaha was basically pocketed by 19-year-old Reece James. Andros Townsend also didn’t have a shot or record a key pass.

If Hodgson, Steve Parish and Sporting Director Dougie Freedman didn’t already feel a urgent need to bolster their side’s attacking ranks, then hopefully this damning statistic from Saturday’s game will give them the kick up the backside that they clearly need.

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…

Darren Bent has urged Mauricio Pochettino to play Juan Foyth regularly for Tottenham Hotspur, per Football Insider.

What’s he said?

Spurs drew 1-1 with Sheffield United on Saturday and are currently marooned in the bottom half of the table, a massive 11 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.

And Bent believes that the young Argentina international, who has made just two Premier League appearances this season totalling 20 minutes, could be “the one” to fix the club’s defensive woes.

Spurs have kept just one clean sheet in the top-flight this term, when they beat Crystal Palace 4-0 in September.

Asked if 21-year-old Foyth should be given a bigger role, Bent said: “Yeah potentially, potentially he could be the one.

“I think he could be the one because at the minute Spurs don’t look solid at all and they need some sort of stability in order to be a solid team that is hard to play against.

“Yeah we know going forward, he is a little bit limited, but he can defend so for me, I’d probably go with him for a little bit.”

Refit needed

Spurs have made a few changes in recent times and played Eric Dier at centre-back against the Blades on Saturday.

Introducing Foyth wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.

As it is, they have Serge Aurier as their senior right-back and, thus far this season, he’s endured a difficult time.

He was sent off against Southampton and also conceded the penalty that led to Liverpool’s winning goal at Anfield. While he can be a good attacking weapon – he averages 1.3 key passes per game – competition can only be healthy.

Bringing Foyth in – he was earmarked as the replacement to Kieran Trippier after the England international was sold to Atletico Madrid – would be something of a rocket to the Ivorian and would show that his place is not secure.

It would then be down to the former PSG man to do something about it and show some consistency whenever he is brought into the first-team.

Adding the young defender to the mix could well add some solidity and have the added benefit of sharpening Aurier’s focus.

For that reason alone, Pochettino should heed Bent’s words.

Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to react after they discovered that Sadio Mane had been substituted at half-time by boss Aliou Cisse in Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Eswatini.

The prolific Liverpool forward – who has scored nine goals across the Premier League and Champions League this season – was reportedly withdrawn at the interval following a series of heavy challenges from the Eswatini players.

Mane – who is a nominee for the Ballon d’Or award – was booked by the referee after retaliating against the constant fouling, and Cisse decided to replace the former RB Salzburg forward with Sidy Sarr in order to prevent his star man from being sent off.

Not long after the second-half began, the game was briefly halted as a storm dominated proceedings, although the action eventually got back underway.

As Liverpool look to fight for the Premier League title, Jurgen Klopp would presumably love to keep his best players fit while they’re on international duty – it seems as if some supporters were following Mane’s whereabouts closely as well.

Let’s see what the Liverpool fans on Twitter were saying following Mane’s withdrawal…

Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to show their love for an interview from club legend Darren Ambrose.

To make the situation all the more special for those who hold the south London club close to their hearts, the man who scored that famous goal at Hillsborough was chatting to another club legend in Wilfried Zaha.

Ambrose – who previously played for Palace’s south London rivals Charlton before arriving at Selhurst Park – scored 37 goals and recorded 23 goals in 124 appearances for the Eagles.

In Zaha’s case, the Ivorian is held in extremely high regard at Palace for a number of reasons, having scored the winning goal against arch-rivals Brighton in the playoff semi-finals while also making nearly 350 appearances for the club.

So, to see both of them involved in the same interview presumably makes for an exciting watch if you’re a Palace fan.

These Eagles supporters on Twitter certainly seemed to enjoy what they saw…